Sun > Status Update

This comment/non-apology from the agent is NOT ok:
https://twitter.com/millercallihan/st...

"It’s agency policy not to publicly comment on clients, past or present. I realize some comments I made previously (not on the current situation) have been misinterpreted, as has my silence. For this I am sorry. Thank you for your bravery in speaking out. I support you."

1. "not on the current situation"? Her comments about authors owing readers nothing but the book. And little white lies = "branding" was 100% about Santino Hassell. No misinterpretation at all.

2. This agency has made it's own brand of representing powerful voices in the Romance space, "social justice warriors" if you will, who speak up against things they think are wrong. And THIS is the non-apology you give?

I would rather have seen NOTHING from this agent rather than this BS.

Megan wrote: "JThis I can help with. It will not have a negative effect. Any publisher (any business, really) that knows what they're doing always has money set aside/slated/whatever for this kind of thing. I don't know if they're counting the books being bought with the credits as books sold (so authors accrue royalties) or as freebies to be written off, but either way they would have it covered. So you don't need to worry on that front, this isn't doing any sort of financial harm to the genre/market. ."

I get that but Loose ID, Torquere and all the other one time large publishers should have had enough money to weather dips in sales and competition and yet, they didn't. Without knowing how financially stable they are, I'm not sure, after watching them fall, one by one, that we should assume any of our publishers are that stable. I would hope that they made the offer because they know they can withstand a large onslaught of requests but this is an emotional time and even business people can make bad decisions when faced with unexpected stress to their business model.

Also, we haven't seen any statements from Berkeley (published The Barons series) and St. Martins Press (publishing the unnamed new series).

I plan to write a letter detailing what's been happening. I'd like to send this with a "power in numbers" ending where all the victims (of any kind, because let's get real, if we believed even a smidgeon of what SH put out there, you're a victim) co-sign.

If you are willing to give me your real name and be a part of these letters to the publishers, please PM me here on GR. This list will only go to the publishers and no one else.

JenMcJ wrote: "Megan wrote: "JThis I can help with. It will not have a negative effect. Any publisher (any business, really) that knows what they're doing always has money set aside/slated/whatever for this kind ..."

Loose ID I can't speak to, but Torquere failed b/c the new owners stole money from the company. That's why ARe tanked as well. But I feel RP is a strong enough publisher they can weather it - they wouldn't have made the offer if they couldn'nt.

And while I have no idea what the terms of termination are, I wouldn't be surprised if they are keeping his remaining royalties to offset costs.

But really, that's RP's business. Your concern is considerate, you have a good heart, but I think readers have enough to worry about with all that's been done to them. Worry about you, RP can handle itself.

Megan wrote: "And while I have no idea what the terms of termination are, I wouldn't be surprised if they are keeping his remaining royalties to offset costs..."

That is what I'm hoping for.

Amazonaute wrote: "I have been following all this for the last week or so. I’ve read SH’s books, but knew nothing else about his whole community and fandom, other than noticing his huge patreon support. I have been f..."

I'm still trying to figure out how a legitimate writer has conversations with a non-writer, and *nothing* the non-writer says clues the legit writer in to the fact that he's talking to someone who's never written a book.

Really?

That's why I don't believe any of these co-writers when they say they didn't know Hassell wasn't an actual writer. If they talked to the guy, hung out with him for days, went on vacation with him, they surely discussed the mechanics of their "shared" occupation.
And his ignorance on the subject didn't spark even a moment of doubt? Weird.

Jan wrote: "Evelia wrote: "You all might be right to be so offended by all the alleged lying and posing from this author but the truth is I will keep on reading what he/she writes because he/she is one of the ..." Damn - new account?
knew this would happen

Susan wrote: "This comment/non-apology from the agent is NOT ok:
https://twitter.com/millercallihan/st...

"It’s agency policy not to publicly comment on clients, past or present. I realize ..."

Wow. If the writers Miller-Callihan represents have ANY integrity, they will leave her "agency" and find a decent, trustworthy, honest one.

EmilieSA wrote: "Ok, I wasn't about to comment but here we go. I really hope I can articulate what I want to say with the right words, because my goal isn't to upset any of the victims. It really isn't.

I wasn't c..."

Well said. I think it is important to realize that many, likely most, readers are not that "plugged in" to the personalities, ships and stans. Many of us simply read for a long time (in my case years) before dipping a toe into the turbulent waters of joining groups, following authors and developing GR "friendships".
I would never have known any of this existed if I hadn't seen the RP press release. Having said all that, I would caution that this is a huge information dump, a dumpster fire of massive proportions and Just an absolutely horrible situation all round.

In light of this shit show created by a totally amoral personality at their manipulative best, I imagine even his coauthors may have been duped and are only slowly digging through the "receipts". Knowing your coauthor may be using a pseudonym is a totally different ball of wax from realizing he wrote a book with you that he mined someone else's heart break to create. In this age of #instafriends, I would not be surprised to know the appearance of friendship was more important than the act of being friends. Those friendships were likely only as functional as Hassell's compassion gene and we now know that was defective. Sigh.

I totally feel it for those who are more involved than I because if I feel so disgusted, I can only imagine how you all feel. Big hugs to you all especially Noah.

Sara wrote: "Susan wrote: "This comment/non-apology from the agent is NOT ok:
https://twitter.com/millercallihan/st...

"It’s agency policy not to publicly comment on clients, past or prese..."
`
Sure half her writers are the squad: she represents them all :)

Just for what it’s worth. I review for both The Novel Approach and Joyfully Jay and both blog owners have pulled all SH’S reviews and buy links. I am proud of both Joyfully Jay and Lisa Horan who have also been very vocal on Facebook with support for the victims. It’s good to see so many m/m bloggers taking this kind of action.

Francesca wrote: "Sure half her writers are the squad: she represents them all :)  ..."

I wonder if they got their agent because of SH...That would explain some of their devotion or possible worry about losing their agent if they didn't go along...

Shelby wrote: "Aeren wrote: "You can ask for a refund on Amazon
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/stat..."

But where is the $ from the refunds coming from? Amazon? Riptide? Dreampinner? I doubt..."

From what I've seen from a screenshot of someone who got the refund, Amazon will take action against the publisher.
https://twitter.com/isobel_starling/s...

Karen wrote: "I just had the same thought I have a lot of the his audiobooks but honestly if it's going to take income away from the narrators I don't want my money back ..."

I hadn't thought about that. I don't want to punish the narrators, so I'll just keep mine.

Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Aeren wrote: "You can ask for a refund on Amazon
https://twitter.com/ease_dropper/stat..."

But where is the $ from the refunds coming from? Amazon? Riptide? Dream..."

That's not the impression that I got from that. "Also I'll take this as a feeback and forward it to the corn team so that they will take the necessary action against the publisher." That reads to me as though it is referring to WHY they were returning. But seeing as it is only the tail-end of the conversation, I'm content to sit on it and wait to hear back from Riptide first.

JenMcJ wrote: "Megan wrote: "JThis I can help with. It will not have a negative effect. Any publisher (any business, really) that knows what they're doing always has money set aside/slated/whatever for this kind ..."

I don't know about Loose ID but from things that I've seen previously in regard to Torquere Press and other indie publishers that have gone under it wasn't about having reserves to get through the slow times it was poor financial management that caused their downfall. As in misappropriation of funds.

Shelby wrote:

Shelby, in that screenshot the book is After Midnight, which is one of the self-published titles. Presumably amazon will deduct the amount from any balance SH has with them, or bill "santino" for it if there's no balance.

After Midnight and all the Cyberlove titles are self-pub.

Alex wrote: "Jan wrote: "Evelia wrote: "You all might be right to be so offended by all the alleged lying and posing from this author but the truth is I will keep on reading what he/she writes because he/she is one of the ..." Damn - new account?
knew this would happen .."

I 100% don't want to defend the Evelia who was so very considerate and empathetic ~insert sarcasm~ but it's possible that new members are going to visit this thread. It has been shared all over FB and Twitter and some who might want to inform themselves are not existing GR members. Sorry, I don't want to sound condescending or something. It's just supposed to be a reminder because the first thing I do is checking the profile and right now my first reaction is to be wary until I remember that this thread has been shared so widely.

Amy wrote: "Karen wrote: "I just had the same thought I have a lot of the his audiobooks but honestly if it's going to take income away from the narrators I don't want my money back ..."

I hadn't thought abou..."

yeah, I'm going to do the same I may ultimately just delete them from my library even but while I don't want SH to profit from my money neither do I want narrators like Michael Ferriuolo or Greg Boudreaux (also known as Greg Tremblay) to suffer for what someeone else has done. I really don't know how this works...maybe, I'll write to them and let them sort it out because like Riptide and Dreamspinner they may not want to be associated with selling his audio books.

Marbles wrote: "Alex wrote: "Re authors - There are a few that have stood up to be counted. Garrett Leigh, Sheena Himes, Kade Boehme. I know i missed some. just seen what ive been in groups of. Victoria Sue has lo..."

In her facebook group.

Daniel wrote: "Shelby wrote:

Shelby, in that screenshot the book is After Midnight, which is one of the self-published titles. Presumably amazon will deduct the amount from any balance SH has with them, or bill..."

Okay, so I guess that doesn't really help with knowing who's going to have to pay up in the case of the non-published books.

Okay, I tweeted Riptide, and they got to me pretty quick :

https://twitter.com/shelbanuadh/statu...

Susan wrote: "This comment/non-apology from the agent is NOT ok:
https://twitter.com/millercallihan/st...

"It’s agency policy not to publicly comment on clients, past or present. I realize ..."

It's insulting that she thinks we are going to be like... "ohhh yeaaah we misread you, we are so sorry!"... Like, girl, you and i know what you were talking about, take some goddamned responsibility for it ffs

Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Daniel wrote: "Shelby wrote:

Shelby, in that screenshot the book is After Midnight, which is one of the self-published titles. Presumably amazon will deduct the amount from any bal..."

Yeah, that's my tweet :P

Shelby wrote: "Emanuela ~plastic duck~ wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Daniel wrote: "Shelby wrote:

Shelby, in that screenshot the book is After Midnight, which is one of the self-published titles. Presumably amazon wil..."

Sorry, I didn't see you posted, but I work for a publisher and I more or less know how Amazon works. Also I am not a native speaker so I could be mistaken sometimes, sorry

Susan wrote: "Also, we haven't seen any statements from Berkeley (published The Barons series) and St. Martins Press (publishing the unnamed new series).

I plan to write a letter detailing what's been happenin..."

Susan I'm more than happy to, we're connected here and on FBook.

Noah wrote: "Thank you, Susan, for creating this thread. You have no idea how much it's meant to me to see so many stories and people that make me feel less alone in what happened to me.

Noah! It's SO good to see you here and to hear that you're feeling less alone. It was so heartwrenching to read what you went through, I won't ever forget it. You were incredibly brave to share it, and when you did its impact was like the last nail in the coffin.

I hope all the voices and messages of support will help you heal and leave this chapter behind. I send you love and a big hug. <3

Sara wrote: "Susan wrote: "This comment/non-apology from the agent is NOT ok:
https://twitter.com/millercallihan/st...

"It’s agency policy not to publicly comment on clients, past or prese..."

Regarding her writers leaving, all those writers are under contract, and that can be a sticky legal mess.

I know when I had an agent, I had to jump through all sorts of hoops to make sure that my new writing wouldn't be under her umbrella. Otherwise, even if I'd written the books and negotiated a contract myself, she would've been able to sue me for her share, just because we had an agent-client agreement.

Same thing with publishing my third book. If it had been at all related to my first two books, even in the same subgenre (m-f romance instead of m-m), my old publisher had first right of refusal, which meant they could've taken my manuscript and sat on it for however long before saying, "Nope, we're not interested." I had to be very careful to make absolutely sure I was free to send #3 to Riptide instead of the other publisher.

The agent I'm speaking with at Amazon.ca is saying they will only issue a refund if I return the books.

Shelby wrote: "Okay, I tweeted Riptide, and they got to me pretty quick :

https://twitter.com/shelbanuadh/statu..."

That's what I hoped for :) Thank you!!

using ppl's pain to write them in the books?
harassement too? omg this isn't ending , I keep finding out things.

my heart goes out to everyone hurt by it all

And when I asked if they could be restocked, they told me they didn't know. Amazon.ca still has Santino's books on their site.

I just talked to my editor at Riptide, and she said, "Amazon is definitely going to take that money back from us. That you can make public."

So unfortunately asking for refunds from Amazon doesn't cost amazon a dime, even though those refunds are outside their usual 7-day window.

Yeah, so my amazon rep left the chat :/ Not so helpful after all.

Not trying to stir anything up, and maybe it's already been posted but, I sort of think we should have a list of authors who have stepped up and said/done the right thing/been supportive of the people who were harassed and victimized by SH. I'd certainly like to know who I can wholeheartedly support in addition to the list of authors to avoid. So maybe when those refunds/credits come through, we could turn right back around and support the good guys/gals/peeps. Just a thought.

Shelby wrote: "And when I asked if they could be restocked, they told me they didn't know. Amazon.ca still has Santino's books on their site."

Amazon.de has removed all e-books published by Riptide and Dreamspinner. The self-published books and books published by InterMix are still there. So are all paperbacks but I think removing them takes more time.

Shelby wrote: "And when I asked if they could be restocked, they told me they didn't know. Amazon.ca still has Santino's books on their site."

restocked? I take it you have paper copies. That's probably more complicated, sorry, I had assumed ebooks. If they're Riptide or DSP, I assume those publishers are in process of pulling the hardcopies from sale also, but I'm not sure what happens with any unsold stock, if it would be returned, destroyed or remaindered. If it's self pub that's an even bigger question.

Delphia wrote: "Not trying to stir anything up, and maybe it's already been posted but, I sort of think we should have a list of authors who have stepped up and said/done the right thing/been supportive of the peo..."

Sorry, I don't know them all but I think most of them have been posted here in the last few pages of this thread.

Delphia wrote: "Not trying to stir anything up, and maybe it's already been posted but, I sort of think we should have a list of authors who have stepped up and said/done the right thing/been supportive of the peo..."

Great idea, Delphia. I know several have spoken up here in this thread and elsewhere to show their support. The only one I remember off the top off my head is Kaje Harper since she's in several of my groups.

I've messaged audible.com and asked them to remove SH's audio books from their site. If they choose to give refunds that will be at their discretion.

@Amy, upon reflection I don't think refunds on audiobooks will harm the narrator as I believe they're paid by the production company and some of them are tied to Riptide and Dreamspinner. Plus the fact that audiobooks are considerably more than e-books I didn't feel that asking for refunds on past sales was a reasonable expectation but I would be very happy to see that there weren't going to be any sales on a go forward basis.

Karen wrote: "I've messaged audible.com and asked them to remove SH's audio books from their site. If they choose to give refunds that will be at their discretion.

@Amy, upon reflection I don't think refunds o..."

From what I understand, narrators are paid upfront, not from sales royalties.

Shelby wrote: "Okay, I tweeted Riptide, and they got to me pretty quick :

https://twitter.com/shelbanuadh/statu..."

"They've returned the rights to the author"

Not sure how I feel about that but I'm proud of Riptide and their quick and decisive response.

Fabi wrote: "Shelby wrote: "Okay, I tweeted Riptide, and they got to me pretty quick :

https://twitter.com/shelbanuadh/statu..."

"They've returned the rights to the author"

Not sure how I f..."

Yeah, me either (shelbanuadh is my twitter account, by the bye). I'd rather hang on to them if that is the case.

Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "From what I understand, narrators are paid upfront, not from sales royalties. ."

No, lots of narrators choose to take royalty payments from sales. Mine does, for instance.

Dani wrote: "Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "From what I understand, narrators are paid upfront, not from sales royalties. ."

No, lots of narrators choose to take royalty payments from sales. Mine does, for instance. ."

That's what I've heard, too. Either up-front payment or royalty payments.

Thebomb wrote: "are K.j.Charles and L.A.witt good authors or not?"

KJ Charles
https://twitter.com/kj_charles/status...
https://twitter.com/kj_charles/status...

Thebomb wrote: "are K.j.Charles and L.A.witt good authors or not?"

LA Witt is on the bad list I believe. She defended Santino (there is a link with a screenshot floating around somewhere here), deleted that post, and issued an apology. Some people said she said some rather venomous things, like calling people subhuman, but that wasn't mentioned in the original FB post and I haven't seen any screenshots of where it may have.

Patreon members are dropping. Slowly but they are dropping. Down to 347 now.

Honestly I’m getting more and more cynical reading some of the statements authors are making. I know some of them may be hurting if they were betrayed, but it’s unfortunate none of the bully-ish behavior by co-authors and close friends that kept people quiet has been addressed.

A year+ ago when this all started I had doubts about the authenticity of the author, but I went along with it and jumped on the “I want to fight them” train in the FB group for a little approval and to not put a target on my head. I thought since I was unimportant it didn’t matter. It did. It was wrong and cowardly and I had some apologies to make. But the more that came to light? Shutting people up was clearly disastrous. The extent of the hurt people experienced is shocking and horrifying. I am so, so sorry people like Jenn, Noah, and I’m sure many others were harmed. I only hope finally being heard eases things some.

The more i learn, maybe it’s too much to expect more than lip service. Especially from people like “Erika” in this blog post, who was one of the big Santino apologists. It’s getting tougher to know who the good guys are. https://scarlettparrish.wordpress.com...

I copy/past because I don't know how to post picture
Edit to add : post by Garrett Leigh, from her facebook group :

Morning guys,

I know a lot of you are having a really hard time right now, so I wanted to check in with you and let you know that I am here for you all.

I also wanted to reassure you that everything I've shared about myself and my family in here, and on my other social media platforms, is genuine. I don't share my actual face much, but that's 'cause it just ain't my style. When I had personal Fb etc, I didn't do it much on there either.

That being said, there are a few pics of my mug on my insta, which is where I tend to share my day to day life. There are many people in here who can vouch that it is genuinely me. Dan and I have appeared at many queer cons and events, and in fact, we met at one.

We met at a UK Meet quite a few years ago now. Dan was there with his boyfriend at the time, and I was there alone, though I was also attached to someone else.

Life has moved on since then, but what remains is that we are both still who we have always claimed to be--a pair of queer idiots who love each other to death. Dan uses his real name, and it wouldn't be hard for the simplest mind to dox me. My pen name is simply a pen name.

The only member of my inner circle who genuinely doesn't use their name is my brother, Caleb Leigh, and that is because he's a teacher, a real one, who teaches kids with FB accounts. His face is real, and again, he's been to events with me (and brought a book of dinosaur porn with him--seriously...who does that?).

Anyway. It saddens me that posts like this are necessary, but I can't fix what's happened outside of this group over the last few days. All I can do is continue to make this group--and my Patreon--a safe and happy space for everyone who wants to be here.

I can't deny that I am angry. I've made no secret of the fact that I am a recovering drug addict--I have been in recovery for fifteen years now--and to learn that someone has apparently appropriated this, among many other things, is devastating.

Addiction is a disease, and for a long time, writing about it through my characters was the only therapy that truly worked. And it still works, but it doesn't change the fact that drug addiction fucking haunts me.

There isn't really much else I can say. Just know that *anyone* and *everyone* in this group that is hurt has my full support.

Thank you all for being here.