ARE Bites the Dust

HeyAll said:

So what should ARe be doing? They dont have the money.

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Says who?

Its not like they did this on purpose.

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Again, says who?

Says ARe, evidently. But there's no reason their writers should have to take it on trust that ARe has irretrievably lost 90% of takings from the latest quarter, and that they don't have any assets that could be sold to pay the authors.

If they're genuine, well, that's what bankruptcy proceedings are for. The fact that they're trying to avoid that is suspicious.

If I borrowed money from you and then told you I could only pay back 10%, would you take my word for it or would you want an accountant to check the books?

Bramblethorn said:

Says who?



Again, says who?

Says ARe, evidently. But there's no reason their writers should have to take it on trust that ARe has irretrievably lost 90% of takings from the latest quarter, and that they don't have any assets that could be sold to pay the authors.

If they're genuine, well, that's what bankruptcy proceedings are for. The fact that they're trying to avoid that is suspicious.

If I borrowed money from you and then told you I could only pay back 10%, would you take my word for it or would you want an accountant to check the books?

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The very bad look for ARE in not having any money is they just very recently were hitting people up to pay for $50 advertising spots. Will those people who bit get anything back? They had to know this was coming so it looks like they were fishing for more right until the last minute.

lovecraft68 said:

The very bad look for ARE in not having any money is they just very recently were hitting people up to pay for $50 advertising spots. Will those people who bit get anything back? They had to know this was coming so it looks like they were fishing for more right until the last minute.

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Yep. I don't know the US law but as electricblue says, that would certainly be illegal in Australia.

My suspicion would be that they may be hoping to pay back some of their creditors in full - e.g. family members and anybody they're hoping to work with again - at their writers' expense.

Bramblethorn said:

Yep. I don't know the US law but as electricblue says, that would certainly be illegal in Australia.

My suspicion would be that they may be hoping to pay back some of their creditors in full - e.g. family members and anybody they're hoping to work with again - at their writers' expense.

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In my opinion the only real satisfaction the burned authors are going to get is that after this James name is worth shit. I can't see anyone lining up to work with her unless of course there's another side to this no one knows.

Speaking as an author who was published through ARe, I can tell you that Lori (the owner) sent out a contract saying we would NOT be paid for 4Q. In order to get the five books of mine they published, I had to sign something saying I was okay taking the loss in order to get my rights back.

Yes, that's what it said. No, I didn't sign it. Since I'm a member of SRWA (Science Fiction Writers of America), I contacted them since they have lawyers who deal with such. So, basically, she's trying to keep my money *and* my rights. And I had a book come out Oct 1 (that would be in the 4Q) which sold very well.

Oh yes, it's getting VERY ugly.

More on Writer Beware blog

lovecraft68 said:

In my opinion the only real satisfaction the burned authors are going to get is that after this James name is worth shit. I can't see anyone lining up to work with her unless of course there's another side to this no one knows.

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[Political post removed - AH Mod http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1364792]

I kind of feel that's a bit off topic given this is pretty serious for many authors.