Lynne Cantwell grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan. She worked as a broadcast journalist for many years; she has written for CNN, the late lamented Mutual/NBC Radio News, and a bunch of radio and TV news outlets you have probably never heard of, including a defunct wire service called Zapnews. But she began as a fantasy writer (in the second grade), and is back at it today. She currently lives near Washington, DC. Learn more about Lynne at her blog and at her Amazon author page.
So you’ve tried to get your publisher to give your book the editing, formatting, and marketing attention it deserves, but you’ve had no luck. Your logical next step may be to try to get your book back.
The technical term is reversion of rights. You’re asking the publisher to give you back any rights you granted it to publish your book. This sometimes becomes necessary even in contracts with a traditional publisher. If the book is not selling well, or some other disagreement has come up, an author may decide to buy back the book and shop it around somewhere else. Although increasingly these days, traditionally-published authors are buying back the rights to their books on their publishers’ backlists and going indie with them.
Authors who have gotten sucked into a vanity press contract often get their first inkling of problems when they review their “edited” manuscript. It’s often riddled with errors – many of which have been introduced during the “editing” process. And if they complain, they’re pointed to a provision in their contract that states they need to pay extra for extra rounds of editing.
In honor of our March Madness Predatory Publisher Month at Indies Unlimited, we’re doing a highly unscientific poll of our readers here at IU. Please give us your answers below. Even if you have not been scammed, please take one second to answer the first and second questions. For those who have been scammed, the whole thing shouldn’t take you more than five minutes. All of the responses are anonymous.
The survey will be open through the end of this month. We’ll report the results on April 2nd.
Please share with your author friends! The more responses we get, the more accurate our survey results will be. Thank you!
Have you ever placed a book with a predatory publisher?
No (73%, 84 Votes)
Yes (21%, 24 Votes)
I'm not sure (6%, 7 Votes)
Total Voters: 115
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Have you been scammed by a service provider OTHER than a publisher? (i.e., editor, agent, publicist, formatter, etc.) If you answered no to Questions 1 & 2, then you're done. Thank you!
No (79%, 87 Votes)
Yes (17%, 19 Votes)
I'm not sure (4%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 110
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If you answered “yes” or “I’m not sure” to Question #1, how many books did you place with this publisher?
1 (76%, 26 Votes)
2 (12%, 4 Votes)
More than 2 (12%, 4 Votes)
Total Voters: 34
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How much do you estimate it cost you to publish your book(s)? (If you published two or more with the same outfit, please give us a per-book average. Please see the asterisk below*)
Less than $500 (47%, 22 Votes)
Between $1000 and $4,999 (23%, 11 Votes)
Between $500 and $999 (21%, 10 Votes)
Between $5,000 and $7,499 (6%, 3 Votes)
Between $7,500 and $9,999 (2%, 1 Votes)
Over 10,000 (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 47
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Have you reported being scammed? For example, filing a report with your state attorney general, contacting Writer Beware, or a consumer organization, etc.
No, I just want to forget about it and move on (62%, 24 Votes)
Yes (28%, 11 Votes)
No, I’m too embarrassed to admit that it happened (5%, 2 Votes)
No, I’m afraid the publisher will sue me (5%, 2 Votes)
Total Voters: 39
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Does this publisher still have control of your book(s)?
No (62%, 23 Votes)
No, but they still owe me money (19%, 7 Votes)
Yes (16%, 6 Votes)
Yes, and they still owe me money (3%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 37
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Did you have to get a lawyer involved to get out of your contract?
No (87%, 33 Votes)
Yes (13%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 38
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*For example, if you paid $1,000 for the first book and $5,000 for the second book, your per-book average would be $3,000. So you would pick “between $1,000 and $5,000.”
As Kat announced Monday, IU is devoting the month of March to authors who have been scammed by scummy publishers, and what to do if you’ve been caught by one.
This whole thing started with an email to the IU admins from an author who was just beginning to realize that she’d been had. While the minions sat around the gruel cauldron and kicked around her options, we realized that we had a hole in our coverage. So many of us had horror stories of our own – and we were sure that we were only the tip of the iceberg. Continue reading “FOULED! Part 1: Taking on Scammy Publishers”
So you’ve tried to get your publisher to give your book the editing, formatting, and marketing attention it deserves, but you’ve had no luck. Your logical next step may be to try to get your book back.
In honor of our March Madness Predatory Publisher Month at Indies Unlimited, we’re doing a highly unscientific poll of our readers here at IU. Please give us your answers below. Even if you have not been scammed, please take one second to answer the first and second questions. For those who have been scammed, the whole thing shouldn’t take you more than five minutes. 
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