Laying low and hard at work
I've taken a bit of a break from social media and even email, and have worked very hard to take the next step in my journey away from Noble Romance and the debacle that is that publishing company.
I've played by the rules, as set down in my contracts - sent a certified letter to the company July 26, 2012, which listed my contract breaches. They had 90 days to respond/correct the breaches, which they did not do. That brought us to October.
Since that time, I have tried to reason with them, strike deal after deal, all in an effort to get the rights to my books. They insist there are no breaches, therefore why should they revert my rights. This is the tack Mr. Gombart has used for everyone, including authors Noble hasn't paid in over a year.
I digress. There is a clause in the contracts that says if one or the other party perceives material breaches, they should notify the other party, and give them 90 days to correct the breaches. If the corrections aren't made, the rights automatically revert to the author. Automatically - not at the whim of the publisher, as some at NRP think.
On June 13, 2013, I wrote a Termination of Agreement letter to Noble and other parties, and rescinded the rights to all of my titles. Noble Romance Publishing has breached the contracts time and again. Lawyers have said it, and anyone with a high school education can read the contracts and see where the breaches lie.
I don't need Gombart's permission. The man can't interpret a contract if he thinks Noble hasn't breached. Just the fact that he doesn't pay us on any regular schedule is a breach or the fact that they never issued ANY galley proofs before completing production of books is a breach. The contract says, Noble WILL issue proofing copies, not might. The quality of Noble Romance publications is appalling. It goes from edits to production, with no proofing of the text whatsoever.
Okay, so that brings me current. I have had Serenity's Dream reedited and discovered that despite the fact that the deal to reissue SD was based on a complete re-edit, the book was never edited at all, and believe me, it shows. I am not infallible, and neither is any other author. We depend upon editors to clean up our errors, but Noble let me down on that one the first time around, and with the reissue. When I wrote to Gombart and the editor about the matter, I heard nothing. Their actions are indefensible.
With the edit now done, I intend to self-pub not only SD, which has a new cover and a new title, but all of my backlist that Noble so egregiously treated like so much rubbish. The Sapphire Club series will come out very soon, as will the two stories that Noble never had contracts for, Demands of the Heart and the newly retitled - In His Eyes (formerly the Rogue's Salvation.) The new title truly fits the story.
I want to do something very special with An Evening at the Starlight, as that story is worthy of much more than it ever got at Noble. We'll see about A Minute After Midnight. I haven't decided about that yet.
I will also do a rewrite on Her Timeless Obsession and put that one out as well. That is another story that never received any attention from the publisher, but I think is worthy of it.
I issued DCMA requests to all major vendors and they have removed all my Noble titles. They were very interested in the fact that Noble not only breaches contracts but continues to infringe on my copyrights and those of other authors by not abiding by the DCMA requests we sent out. Still, all my titles remain on the Noble site, where no one will see them, but Noble doesn't have the right to still sell the titles. They breached, didn't fix the myriad breaches, the titles are mine. Period. When they start losing in court, they might wake up.
On the personal front, Clint and I are preparing for a late July trip to New York to help my favorite uncle celebrate his 80th birthday. I adore my Uncle Pete and can't wait to see him again. I haven't been back home since 2008.
The summer is HOT here in the Deep South, but we stay cool in the a/c. I'll get back to writing new stories, once I get my old ones squared away. The advantage is, I am rewriting the titles and giving them more words and more polish. No disadvantage that I can think of, save for I have had to backburner my second installment in the Tarnished series. All in good time.
Stay cool!
Hugs,
Brita
I've played by the rules, as set down in my contracts - sent a certified letter to the company July 26, 2012, which listed my contract breaches. They had 90 days to respond/correct the breaches, which they did not do. That brought us to October.
Since that time, I have tried to reason with them, strike deal after deal, all in an effort to get the rights to my books. They insist there are no breaches, therefore why should they revert my rights. This is the tack Mr. Gombart has used for everyone, including authors Noble hasn't paid in over a year.
I digress. There is a clause in the contracts that says if one or the other party perceives material breaches, they should notify the other party, and give them 90 days to correct the breaches. If the corrections aren't made, the rights automatically revert to the author. Automatically - not at the whim of the publisher, as some at NRP think.
On June 13, 2013, I wrote a Termination of Agreement letter to Noble and other parties, and rescinded the rights to all of my titles. Noble Romance Publishing has breached the contracts time and again. Lawyers have said it, and anyone with a high school education can read the contracts and see where the breaches lie.
I don't need Gombart's permission. The man can't interpret a contract if he thinks Noble hasn't breached. Just the fact that he doesn't pay us on any regular schedule is a breach or the fact that they never issued ANY galley proofs before completing production of books is a breach. The contract says, Noble WILL issue proofing copies, not might. The quality of Noble Romance publications is appalling. It goes from edits to production, with no proofing of the text whatsoever.
Okay, so that brings me current. I have had Serenity's Dream reedited and discovered that despite the fact that the deal to reissue SD was based on a complete re-edit, the book was never edited at all, and believe me, it shows. I am not infallible, and neither is any other author. We depend upon editors to clean up our errors, but Noble let me down on that one the first time around, and with the reissue. When I wrote to Gombart and the editor about the matter, I heard nothing. Their actions are indefensible.
With the edit now done, I intend to self-pub not only SD, which has a new cover and a new title, but all of my backlist that Noble so egregiously treated like so much rubbish. The Sapphire Club series will come out very soon, as will the two stories that Noble never had contracts for, Demands of the Heart and the newly retitled - In His Eyes (formerly the Rogue's Salvation.) The new title truly fits the story.
I want to do something very special with An Evening at the Starlight, as that story is worthy of much more than it ever got at Noble. We'll see about A Minute After Midnight. I haven't decided about that yet.
I will also do a rewrite on Her Timeless Obsession and put that one out as well. That is another story that never received any attention from the publisher, but I think is worthy of it.
I issued DCMA requests to all major vendors and they have removed all my Noble titles. They were very interested in the fact that Noble not only breaches contracts but continues to infringe on my copyrights and those of other authors by not abiding by the DCMA requests we sent out. Still, all my titles remain on the Noble site, where no one will see them, but Noble doesn't have the right to still sell the titles. They breached, didn't fix the myriad breaches, the titles are mine. Period. When they start losing in court, they might wake up.
On the personal front, Clint and I are preparing for a late July trip to New York to help my favorite uncle celebrate his 80th birthday. I adore my Uncle Pete and can't wait to see him again. I haven't been back home since 2008.
The summer is HOT here in the Deep South, but we stay cool in the a/c. I'll get back to writing new stories, once I get my old ones squared away. The advantage is, I am rewriting the titles and giving them more words and more polish. No disadvantage that I can think of, save for I have had to backburner my second installment in the Tarnished series. All in good time.
Stay cool!
Hugs,
Brita
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Misty
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Jul 04, 2013 08:04PM
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