Editors and Writers discussion
Post about Cary Press from Writer Beware
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Hey, P.N.,Has anyone corroborated this account or given Cary Press a chance to respond? There's so much unreliable information on the 'Net these days.
Ruth
Thank you for bringing that up! It's a good point.Writer Beware® is sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, with additional support from the Mystery Writers of America, the Horror Writers Association, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/...
"The mission of Writer Beware® is to track, expose, and raise awareness of the prevalence of fraud and other questionable activities in and around the publishing industry."
The all volunteer staff, professionals in the publishing industry, has decades of experience taking reports and questions from writers and investigating "specific scams and schemes–along with advice for writers, industry news and commentary, and a special focus on the weird and wacky things that happen at the fringes of the publishing world."
You can trust them.
Click the link to see the screen cap of a singularly unprofessional email from Cary Press in response to a writer asking for her back royalties, statements, and a rights reversion.
Writer Beware is meticulous about keeping accurate records and encouraging writers to do the same and to investigate for themselves anything that just doesn't seem right.
Cary Press first came to the attention of Absolute Write in 2016:
https://absolutewrite.com/forums/show...
It's an interesting read. By the end of October of 2019, the writer who got the offensive email from them insisted again on a rights reversion. They are now demanding she remove all negative reviews about Cary Press and pay them $950.00 for her rights.
She's contacted her state's attorney general's office.
So, no, there is no response about Cary Press's side of things, and I do not expect them to say a peep. Their actions are quite loud enough.
BTW, their business address as posted on the 'Net was a conference room they rented for a one-time meeting in a commercial business building. The management of the building is not amused because aspiring writers will turn up there asking for directions to the CP offices, which do not exist.
There is quite an entertaining thread going on Writer Beware's FaceBook wall on them.
Had this "Robert" simply and professionally agreed to send the info to the writer and reverted her rights none of this kerfuffle would exist and they could have gone on about their business of getting money out of writers.
P.N.,I've been poking around the SFWA site; it seems to be quite a trove of excellent resources. Thank you for highlighting it for us.
And thank you for the extended explanation. The Internet, as you know, makes it easy for the reputation of a business or person to be damaged or destroyed in a heartbeat, the accusation disseminated broadly and always available somewhere. Ideally, we all will do our research, but too often we accept what we read on-line without question.
I did look into CaryPress, too, and it does indeed look suspect, though, to be fair, I also found a few accolades (https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www...). I wasn't impressed with the writing on the CaryPress site. It did nothing to convince me their editors are professionals.
Thanks again for your thoughtful and fulsome response to my query.
Ruth
My pleasure!I absolutely encourage people to check multiple sources for info on any business.
Scam operations hate that! :-)
One hack I have learned that applies to all businesses, not just publishing, is to Google the name of the business + "rip off" or "reviews" or "scam" or any combo like that.
I did that just now for one infamous publishing predator and got more than 8 million results. Yikes.
But the hack also got results for a local car repair place, a dentist, and a health club I researched a few years back. I moved on to others!
One thing some scam operations--also the inept ones who just don't know what they're doing--have in common will be writers posting reviews while still in the "honeymoon" stage.
They have their new book in hand, they're thrilled to bits, and want to share. Nothing wrong with that, but it's still best to research first. Down the road, when the writer is bombarded with daily emails wanting her to buy copies of her own book, she may have a different opinion.
I recall one writer who was ecstatic that her book was listed on Amazon with a 3 million sales ranking. She thought it meant she'd sold 3 million copies that week. Sadly, no one on the writing board told her it meant 3 mil. other books sold more copies than her own. The board, controlled by the scam publisher, was efficient at deleting anything they deemed negative and banning people who didn't stop.
Writer Beware is a trustworthy source. They've been threatened with legal action by offended scammers, so they are diligent about keeping detailed records and upfront on various links.
It is one heck of an entertaining site to read. Some of the stories they document will keep you busy for hours. This one about an agent who sent death threats to Writer Beware has more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie mystery:
https://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/...
Lots of crazy hats are out there, so we have to be careful and do our research!
Best, P.N.E. :-)
Brilliant idea to search for “Name + Rip-off”! I’ve done the with “review,” but “rip-off” is more specific. And I am an enthusiastic proponent of doing the research. There was far to much on the SFWA site for me to take in at one go, but I’m so glad to know it’s there.
Ruth
https://www.facebook.com/WriterBeware...