I've struggled to find a place to post this, but I do think it qualifies as an ethical issue (though feel free to move it if I'm wrong).

I was a member of this site a while ago, after winning the 'Undiscovered Authors' competition in association with the company Discovered Authors and BookForce. My prize was a traditional book deal, for my first novel Karma, and £1000 in cash.

The £1000 was not an advance, and I was to earn royalties on every book sold. There was some help with publicity, but it was basically down to me to do what I could to promote the book. In my first few weeks, I received orders of 20+ books for a local Waterstones, which were signed and sold out. Another local bookshop sold 30 books in the publication week. Borders took an initial 10 copies for me to do a book signing. It also repeatedly sold out on Amazon, and I was regularly the company's top/second best-seller on Amazon.

I got my first royalty statement in Dec 07 and it stated that I'd sold just 88 books (contrary to what I'd been told by my contact at the company, who said I was comfortably into three figures). I was owed just over £50 in royalties - not a lot, but to someone who can't work due to ill health, it's a nice sum. I waited three months and they still weren't paid. I sent them a letter to say that they were in breach of contract, and they had a further 4 months to pay up. They didn't so, as of February 08, the rights to the book reverted to me.

They continued to print and sell the book. I requested that it was withdrawn from sale as they were no longer entitled to the title. They ignored me.

Today, after months of requests, they have sent a cumulative royalty statement which now says I only sold 29 books (in entirety) which takes my royalty total to £19.55 (if royalties are under £20, they are not obliged to pay them until they exceed that sum). This means that they then wouldn't have been in breach of contract for non-payment of royalties.

Apologies if this sounds confusing, but I'm really upset at how I'm being treated. It seems that they are being completely unethical and lying about my sales. How can I prove otherwise, and where to I go from here? I have no agent, and can't afford to join the SoA. Any ideas?

I would suggest trying to get a breakdown of total sales for your ISBN number from Nielsen bookdata (I think - hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong about which company hold the sales figures). The data is a record of sales of that title through the bookshops.
The problem is they usually only correspond with the publisher, not the author, but it's worth contacting them and explaining your problem.
http://www.nielsenbookdata.co.uk/controller.php?page=1

Armed with these figures you can work out what you are owed and make a claim for payment via the Small Claims Court.

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/claims/index.htm

There are sample letters on that website:
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/ex301.pdf

but if you need help filling out the forms for the Small Claims Court, I would suggest approaching your local Citizens Advice Bureau.


- NaomiM

What a horrible situation to be in, that's really hard. Naomi's advice is excellent.

It occurs to me to wonder if you bought the books from them, to sell on to the various places, or if they supplied them directly? In conventional publishing contracts, copies sold to the author (conventionally at a big discount) don't have royalties paid on them. Or is it possible that they sold them on sale-or-return, in which case the number of copies sold can go down as they come back? But I agree, it doesn't look good.

Very, very good luck with it.

Emma

The problem with this sort of thing is the costs and time/energy spent in pursuing payment often outweigh the money recouped. It is unfortunate that your contact in the publishing company raised your hopes and expectations by saying sales had been in three figures (which can mean anything over 100 copies). They may only have ment the number of books distributed to bookshops and Amazon, rather than actual sales through the tills. as Emma said, bookshops work on a sale or return basis, and may only keep books in stock for a few months before returning those that are unsold, to make room for new titles, and you would not recieve a royalty payment on any books returned.


- NaomiM

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

Books were sold via places like Gardners, not through me. The books that I personally know of were sold out so there were no returns (I believe one particular Waterstones branch sold around thirty copies in a few weeks). Likewise, a bookshops which belonged to a friend sold c30 books at the launch - these came through Gardners and there were no returns.

The lady I spoke to (who has since left the company - many people left in ill-will at the end of last year) assured me that they were sales. The book has sold out regularly on Amazon, also. The number of people who have contacted me via my website also indicates greater sales than notified, as it is unlikely that everyone who purchased a book would email you about it.

I agree that it is barely worth the trouble for the sums involved, but it seems so wrong that companies can behave like this. It has left me disillusioned with writing.

Thank you also for mentioning Nielsen. Someone there is going to get back to me.

It just shows that anyone who expressed doubts about competitions like Undiscovered Authors were completely correct to have reservations. I believe another competition is anticipated for the end of 2008, so caution would be advised (especially if a fee is payable).

Holly, this is an awful situation to be in, and the last thing you should be experiencing after all the work to write the book.

All I can suggest, apart form the excellent advice you've had already, is to see if the Society of Authors can help.

http://www.societyofauthors.org/

Good luck

Dee

Holly, you might want to brace yourself (I haven't had a chance to look at it properly, but it's a long thread) and have a look here:

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48220&highlight=Discovered+Authors

Emma

Don't worry, I've read that website before (the first time I thought I may not get paid).

What I REALLY want is for them to stop printing and selling the book as, as far as I and my contract are concerned, they no longer hold ANY rights. As I don't work, I can't afford a solicitor (or to join the SoA, unfortunately).

I couldn't get an agent retrospectively, considering the work was already published, though I have had interest from a reputable agent for my future work. I'm finding it difficult to write, despite plenty of ideas, as this has totally knocked my confidence.

I'm very grateful for everyone's sound advice!

Personally, I would try to distance yourself from all the negitivity that is being spread around by disgruntled ex-employees, and the naysayers on AbsoluteWrite (who are posting knee-jerk reactions to the term 'self-publishing' - I hear it all the time and it does knock your confidence).

Instead you should focus on the positives, ie, that your ms won £££s in a competition, you've seen your first book in print, it has sold and is continuing to sell, and, most importantly, has recieved a bunch of excellent reviews on Amazon - the readers love it!
Seriously, this is about as good as it gets for the majority of debut writers.
Onward & upward, and all the best with the writing.


- NaomiM

<Added>

Your mood is probably also compounded by the well known condition called 'Book 2 syndrome', where writers often feel an anticlimax, after the hype of their first publication has died down, and in the cold light of day they realize they need to get their head down and start all over again with the next project....

Do you know what? You're absolutely right!

The best thing to do would be to complete my next novel, get an agent, become a best-seller and make thousands! I know it's not as easy as that, but it would be nice.

Hope you work it out.

My publishing contract states that six months after publication I recieve my first royalty report. It's now a year later and no such report has materialised. The problem, I'm told, is I have no American Tax Code Identification Number. Ok, I get that, but surely I should still get the report, if not the cash? (which I'll be taxed on twice, anyway, I'm told. Great. What for, exactly?)

Sorry. Your post just hit a nerve.

JB