WHISKEY CREEK PRESS - www.whiskeycreekpress.com/. ... "February 2006 update: Now I have an extremely negative report on them not paying some authors. April 2006 update: a report that they fouled up a royalty report, but fixed it when questioned. Another report is very positive.
December 2006 update: I have a report that 30% of the net from third-party sales turned out to be very low, more like 3%. Net is after assorted publisher expenses and deductions, so perhaps it can be abused. The publisher is said not to respond to the emails of disaffected authors.
April 2007 update: And another positive report, finding them responsive, prompt, and polite. But also another very negative report: abusive when questioned about royalties, sending an uncorrected edition to the printer instead of the right one, suspicion that they are stealing royalties from authors. It seems their latest contract allows books to be pulled early for a fee of $550. So I don't know what's true here.
December 2007 update: A serious complaint, devious in detail. It seems that WCP uses its printer, Paw Prints, to produce the POD format of its books. But Paw Prints charges the author a $90 set up fee. (I have it listed at $99, but they may charge WCP less.) Well, one author decided not to go POD, then discovered that the book had been printed anyway and was being sold on Amazon via Paw Prints as a “Storefront” outlet. It seems that lessens the high price Amazon charges otherwise. Nothing appeared on the royalty statement, and there is no indication in the contract. It seems the division of the money is in this order: Amazon, Paw Prints, WCP, and finally the author, who apparently receives no accounting.
Okay, this situation obviously deserves clarification, but a call to the owner of WCP was met with immediate hostility and abuse. The essence was that it was none of the author's business what they did with the books(!) and was not a contract violation. To a request that the author's books be immediately removed from the storefront, the answer was No.
So here is my summary of the author's summary: WCP is not at all Author Friendly; questioning them makes you a Problem Author. They refuse to correct errors made by their editors, refuse to run reviews on the backs of the books (only one self-written blurb), and may not even send out books for reviews. No actual accounting on their royalty statement how many books are sold, and they refuse to answer questions about this. I suspect that there are few complaints about this because most authors simply don't know it is being done.
I have not contacted the publisher directly, in part because I suspect that my next call thereafter would be to a lawyer with a lawsuit on my mind. If the publisher contacts me, politely, I will listen. Otherwise, to borrow from a lovely line on the "NCIS" TV series, if there is to be a pissing contest, bring an umbrella. Meanwhile, be wary; there is a noxious odor here."
"June 2011 update: I heard from yet another disaffected author: no 1099 forms, no statements, book still listed for sale despite reverting to the author three years ago. A shoddy operation throughout.
July 2011 update: A complaint about their failure to post reviews, thus nullifying the author's effort obtaining them."
Read more:
http://www.hipiers.com/publishing.html#W1
