How My Book Got Published By A Self Publisher, Who Ended Up Stealing My Royalties

By Author: Constance Martinez
Total Articles: 624
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It all started for me, earlier this year during the first few days of February; not only had it been over half a year since I had finished and edited my first book entitled New York's Opera Society but I was even looking for a publisher for it. I, in all frankness knew little if anything about publishing at the time and even now I do not lay claim to being all that informed about it but I decided to go for a self publisher. Why did I decide for self publisher as opposed to a regular? Well, the answer to this question is very simple; I wanted a publisher, that would allow me to keep the rights to my book and also one that would not ask for exclusive rights to publish it, and that way when or if my book sold well I could present it to a regular publisher who would probably be more interested in publishing after seeing how well the book was already selling.

It was only after contacting several publishers that I came to settle on iUniverse, basically because at 599 USD, their price was the lowest, or one the lowest and because I could make the payment in the form of a check. This being important since I neither had nor would ...
... have made the payment by credit card via the internet even if I had had one. Everything seemed to be ok with iUnverse; I got a contract through the internet, which I first read then printed, then signed and mailed back to the ones who would be my publisher.

The contract was basically a bad deal. I would only get 20% percent from the sale of each book and not even from the cover price but the price my publisher sold my book at; which in the case of my book is about $8 USD a copy. So basically my cut would be 2 USD per every book of mine that was sold. Regarding New York's Opera Society, it was eventually decided by iUniverse that it should have the cover price which it does at present of $13.95 a copy. Ok, I admit it, I signed a lousy deal but this I blame no one but myself for as no one forced me to put my John Hancock on that piece of paper which I mailed back to iUniverse.

Once the contract was signed I sent it back to iUniverse along with a banker's check, which basically works like a money order or traveler's check. This meaning that one gives a certain amount of money to a bank and it makes out a check for the amount of money received. For instance if one gives the bank a million dollars then one gets a check for that amount; which one is free to make out to whom ever one wishes but what one can not do is change the amount. For that is typed on the check by the bank, so in essence there is no way that a banker's check might not have funds to cover it or bounce as some would commonly refer to it. Having done this I, in good faith after having worked hard on my book for three years sent iUniverse; a copy of my book by email for them to start work on, in order to get it published.

I however around the begging of March, got an email from iUniverse that they would stop all work on the publishing of my book because the check I had sent them did not have sufficient funds to cover it. I for my part knew that there was no possibility that this could have occurred as with the sort of check I had sent them it was literally impossible. I, however did make one mistake on the check and that was that I wrote their name as being !Universe instead of iUniverse but I figured this would not be a problem. This given that the money was there and all their bank would have to do was confirm it with the bank that had issued this check and all would be right as rain. It might take a little longer for the check to clear but it would only be a matter of a few days extra, at most.

I had at that point to a certain extent; been made the victim of slander by this email which I received from iUniverse, as they were accusing me of passing off bad checks which has even been known to land some people in prison. As happened once with Elvis Presley's father; Vernon who did some time in the pen for the same reason. Naturally, I suspected that the cause of the problem might be the name I had put on the check, as there was no way a banker's check could not have sufficient funds to cover it.

All of which I made clear to iUniverse in my reply. I also at the time got the impression that those at iUniverse were either very incompetent or simply very crooked. As it could be a case of the left hand not knowing what the right was doing. This in the way that the person who had sent me this email, simply had been misinformed or had been told there was a problem with my check and had jumped to her (it being a woman who sent me the email) own conclusion; that the issue must have been lack of funds.

Of course, I also got the impression they might be trying to cheat me out of a second check and not even publish my book, well to make it short eventually I got fed up with asking them to explain what the issue was and I was sure that it could not be lack of funds. This for reasons I have already explained. I, therefore at this point simply told iUniverse, that if they did not manage to cash that check by the end of the week, it being a Tuesday; I would simply put a stop payment on it.

My move worked because I got an email from them saying that it had just been a case of their name being spelt wrongly on the check and not lack of funds, as they had wrongly accused me of though I got no apology from them. Not even the kind that are usually passed on by those who tried to pull a fast one and got caught and are pretending theirs was but an honest mistake. Regardless of which I continued with iUniverse, perhaps wrongly but they all things considered were going to publish my book; which would surely sell well. After all, I am a very well known writer or at least on the internet (though weather I am good or not is another issue) as anybody who looks up my name on google will see for him or herself and my book was and still is a very good one or at least in my opinion, though I am not naïve enough to believe that that is what everybody else will think.

Eventually, the process got under way. I sent them my manuscript and all that they required to have it published; such as a photograph of myself for the back cover and a painting for the front cover. This while they sent me an email saying I would get my free author's copies two weeks after the book was published which would be sometime in early May. True to their word they did publish my book in early May, on the eighth but contrary to their promise I did not get the five author's copies, which my contract stated I would two weeks after the publication of my book. These I got after eight weeks instead of two with an additional five extra copies; I might add for having been patient with their incompetence, which I had already gotten used to by then.

I must confess at this point that from the moment I heard of the system of print on demand and understood how it worked that I saw how it could lead to me being cheated by iUniverse with regards to my sales figures, as there was little accounting for sales and I even expected to be cheated but only to a certain extent. This not because of me being pessimist but a realist, are people not always cheated in some way or another by somebody regardless of who they are or how much or how little they may have. Once, I even read that most people in America and I imagine in the world who work jobs; never get paid the exact amount in wages they should, as there pay check always shortchanges them by at least 50 cents. This after the taxes have been deducted, however the amount which they get cheated out of is so small that most people will not even notice and those who do usually do not consider it worth arguing about much less litigating about in a court of law.

We could even stop to think when we buy any product. For instance, a bottle of shampoo that claims that the amount that should be contained is 200 ml but how often do we check to see if that in fact is how much we are getting, for it could be 195 or 198 centiliters. Of course most people would not fret over such small amounts; even if they could prove such was the case however for a company selling millions of bottles, then it does make a difference as those 5 or 3 centiliters will add up to a huge amount if extracted from every bottle they sell. It was this argument that was the reason I opted not to give too much mind to the issue that I probably would be getting cheated by a few books a month by iUniverse. For unfortunately this is the case in most of the issues that concern life, which none of us can really do anything about.

I during the month of May also took the time to visit some of Warsaw's bookstores in order to present myself as an author with a published book and one that they would do well in buying for it could sell well if they did. Many book stores in Warsaw were interested but unfortunately could not buy my book as they only bought books from certain wholesalers, however among all those bookstores I visited during the month of May there was one in particular which bought five copies of my book. This because I managed to convince the owner of this small bookstore that several of my friends would come in and buy copies of New York's Opera Society, which in fact is what happened. I even went to the store with all five of these friends of mine, when they made their purchase of New York's Opera Society and signed it for them, so one could say that I saw with my own eyes these five copies of my book New York's Opera Society.

Eventually June arrived and I noticed on the internet that my book was selling on more internet bookstores then just iUniverse's; as there were two others where my book was available, perhaps not right away way but one could at least order it. one of the these internet bookstores was once called Target and another was Books Unlimited from Ireland. I also at this time started putting up more articles on the net on websites such as ezinearticles, articledashboard, and many other big websites with each one containing in my author's bio that I was the author of a book entitled New York's Opera Society which could be purchased on iUniverse. I had been putting up articles on the net since February of 2007 (my first article The Little Opera Singer) and still do; basically as a means to promote not only myself as a writer but my book New York's Opera Society; as I put up links to where people who read my articles may find my book if they seek to buy it.

During the following three months, July, August and September I become even more committed to the promotion of my book on the internet as I was putting up an average of three articles a week on diverse, topics such as the Olympic games, football, formula one racing, politics and many others. All with the intension of promoting New York's Opera Society and its sales, as can be expected, for I was not getting paid for the articles I was putting on the net but did so in order to be more well known among those who choose to read articles on the net. During the month of July I even discovered that I could promote my book on www.ezinearticles.com by putting up its ISBN number on my page, which not only put up its cover on my page but a direct link to Amazon, where it could also be bought.

Yes, it is true my book was available on Amazon and it did not take long for Tesco, Barnes and Nobles, Woolworth's and many others to follow suit. I even saw that some people were selling used copies of my book on Amazon, which they had bought but were looking to sell as perhaps they had no intensions of reading my book a second time, as how many people read the same book twice? I also figured that there were those who perhaps just wanted to sell it so they could use the money to buy another book or who might not have liked the book. I never claimed to be able to please everybody, as no one really can but my book was selling on Amazon. This was something that I must say gave me a sense of pride that so many people were looking at my book and even buying it, as I saw the number of used copies that were available and could imagine that not everybody who had bought the book wanted to sell it. Amazon after all is a place where people can sell any used product providing it is one which they already have in their catalogue such as CDs, books, DVD, etc.

Everything seemed to be ok, or at least it was during the last week of the month of August as it was on the last day of this month on which I was supposed to be getting my first royalty check, or at least for the months of May and June. I at that point even started thinking of publishing my second book with iUniverse entitled Love Your Sister, which I informed them about in an email that I had a second book ready for publishing.

It was a Thursday, late in the evening at about 10:30 pm and the date was August 30 when I got a phone call from iUniverse, from a man (whose name I will not mention), who called me to ask when I planned to publish my second book and also with an offer of how cheaply it could be done if I did so the following week. This due to a promotion this man claimed to be available from iUniverse, during the following week, which would make it possible for me to get the same publishing package which I had gotten for New York's Opera Society only at a price that was 200 USD less then what I had paid in February. I must say that there was a certain tone of despair in this man's voice; almost as if he needed me to agree to his package right away, given he asked me to send the money the following day. His was almost like one of those salesmen, who wants to put as much rush and pressure as possible on his customer, as he told me all sorts of things that I was an international author which I already knew from what I had seen on the net and that the time was right for my second book. I even remembered how he mispronounced my name calling me Giovanni as in Don Giovanni by Mozart, instead of my real name of Gianni which does not have a V in it anywhere.

I for my part was ready to buy the package being offered to me, in spite of this man's poor manners and lack of salesmanship but I was hoping to do so with my first royalty check which was due to arrive the following day. I even asked if I would have my first royalty check mailed to me the following day, which he told me I would and I asked not the amount as this would not have been his department or the point of his call but if I could use my royalties to pay for the publishing of my second book. To which I was told for some strange reason that I could not, though I know not why since they are the same company why they could not simply take some out of my royalty check and use it to pay for my next package.

The following day arrived and I; in what was a big mistake on my part sent this man, the text to my second book, Love Your Sister, (though I have had it copy written since then) along with an email that I would send them the check for the money soon. This was a Friday and the following week came and went and still I had no check, so after waiting the week I sent iUniverse an email asking when I could expect my first royalty check to which I received a reply that simply stunned me. It coming in the form that my book in the months of May and June had only sold three copies! I was even sure of five copies being sold as I had seen them for myself, with my very own eyes and this I informed iUniverse about in an email which earned me a reply that what I would need to do was get the receipts as proof of this purchase and that I could look up my figures on my sales history page. This page showing in fact that in May, my book had sold one copy and another two in June or at least according to iUniverse I had only sold so few.

Now, looking back on the phone call I got from this rather clumsy man in manners, and more so its timing I would say it was perfect. iUniverse knew all along that I was not going to be getting a check any time soon or perhaps ever, therefore they wanted to rush me in to buying another package before the following week went by and I found out that I would not be getting the royalty check I had been told would be surely coming. I naturally asked this man, to whom I emailed my second book to; to kindly delete it from his files as there was no way I would ever publish another book with iUniverse again.

It was not so much that there was a big difference between three books and five books but that was not the point. First of all how was I going to go all around the world asking bookstores which might have bought my book. Second of all, if I was even being lied to about the sell of these books which I was as sure as can be had been sold what about those which I was not being told about and would have no way of knowing about. I, naturally complained to iUniverse, and was eventually told a month later that there had been an error committed in the counting of books during the month of May and June and their would be an internal audit as they were a company that took such matters very seriously. I even got a message attached to this file in a form that I could not even open and had to ask a friend of mine to open for me. It was regarding how many books I had sold in the month of May and June though not the whole sum. The amount I saw was higher then the three copies they had mentioned and I at this point figured it could be like that and started to think that it all might have been but an honest mistake, for if one thing I was 100% sure of and still am is the lack of competence by iUniverse.

This company all things considered was very inefficient which did not by necessity mean they were crooked as well. They had published my book, when they after all could have kept the money from the check I sent them and had even sent me 10 free author's copies (though I don't know how free they are if one has to pay for them) instead of the 5 they said they would for being late on their delivery.

Another thing I started, thinking was that perhaps the sales that came from Amazon, Tesco and Woolworths should not really be counted for the months of May and June as New York's Opera Society did not make its way on to those bookstores till July. I even mentioned how used copies of my book were being sold on Amazon and other websites that allow customers to sell items through their services. This however was met by what I now see as an untruthful answer though at the time I thought only ignorant reply that those books were just a trick of companies like Amazon; to make people think that my book was selling better then it really was in order to encourage people to buy it.

Of course other things made me suspicious of iUniverse. Like when I saw on Amazon and Tesco that my book was in stock and could be delivered to the client in one day. This opposed to being available which has more meanings then in stock which is more specific and how could it be that these internet bookstores could get my book to their clients in a day or two if they did not already have it and had bought it from iUnivese? For delivering it to the customer after having ordered it from iUniverse would at least take two weeks, given that iUniverse only prints there books once they have received orders for them and then they send them out to their clients who have already paid in advanced, so how would it be possible for a company like Tesco to deliver my book in one day? Unless a company of their size, the UK's biggest retailer was simply lying. This I told iUniverse but they had no answer, therefore did not reply as they had failed to do on a number of occasions; like when I told them about those used books on Amazon, whom they called liars for stating these copies were being sold as used by third parties on their website.

I though despite all this was hopeful perhaps naively at this point that the error which iUniverse itself had confessed to would be clarified and that on the first of December I would get my royalties not only for the months of August, September, October but May and June as I had been told I would. I after all had even been sent a file by iUniverse stating that I had sold 28 books in those months however once again I was deceived!

For on Thursday, 4th of December of this month I received an email claiming that my book had only sold 14 USD worth of copies. This meaning that not only was I not going to get paid, given iUniverse has a policy that claims that royalty checks are only made out for sums of 25 USD or higher but that my book had only sold about 7 or 8 copies world wide. This though I know for a fact; as I have had it confirmed to me by Amazon that those used copies are in fact being sold by those who have bought the book and are now selling it, with 20 copies being available for resale on amazon.com alone. This not even taking in to account those copies that were sold but are not being resold, which are probably a lot more then even that sum of 20 copies.

Also Amazon though they could not tell me when I asked them how many copies of my book they had sold; did tell me they had a sales ranking on their websites and though I asked not about this I saw for myself that the ranking of my book, New York's Opera Society was quite high, as any who looks up my book on Amazon can see. This regardless of which Amazon one looks up New York's Opera Society, as it is high on the sales ranking of every Amazon bookstore expect the one in China. This given that my book is not yet available on Amazon.ch but it is my truest hope that it soon will be. For it would be an honor if people with such a great culture as the Chinese would consider reading my book and enjoy it or at least nothing would make me happier then if this were to be the case.

In conclusion, I have decided that to take my publisher iUniverse; to court and am presently looking for a lawyer to do as I have had enough of dealing with people who are blatantly lying to me and cheating me out of my hard earned royalties. For it is not really for me to say if I am a good writer or not but even if I were the worst who ever lived; this would not justify me having my royalties stolen from me by those who hide behind a system known as print on demand. In this I will not even mention how many versions of my book might have been sold via PDF and emailed to individuals. For there is absolutely no way to account for this specially when one has a crooked publisher as I do in iUniverse. My name is Gianni Truvianni, I am an author who writes with the simple aim of sharing his ideas, thoughts and so much more of what I am with those who are interested in perhaps reading something new. I also am the author of the book entitled New York's Opera Society which is now available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Yorks-Opera-Society-Gianni-Truvianni/dp/0595500161/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226938874&sr=8-2
Check out How My Book Got Published By A Self Publisher, Who Ended Up Stealing My Royalties