Fictionwise is screwing us!

[WRJames]

Fictionwise still has not paid its royalties for the first quarter, at least not to Club Lighthouse Publishing. Terrie and I have both sent in complaints with no response.

To add insult to injury, between this morning and this afternoon almost a third of our sales for the second quarter vanished from their royalty report!

Anyone else having poblems with them?

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Fictionwise still has not paid its royalties for the first quarter, at least not to Club Lighthouse Publishing. Terrie and I have both sent in complaints with no response.

To add insult to injury, between this morning and this afternoon almost a third of our sales for the second quarter vanished from their royalty report!

Anyone else having poblems with them?

I had a similar problem but with another E-Book publisher, Erotic Excursions. They couldn't verify my sales, so I pulled my books. They wanted me to write a book a month. Seriously, what kind of book can anyone write in a month.

Good luck getting your money.

 

[WRJames]

I had a similar problem but with another E-Book publisher, Erotic Excursions. They couldn't verify my sales, so I pulled my books. They wanted me to write a book a month. Seriously, what kind of book can anyone write in a month.

Good luck getting your money.

Yeah -- there's no accountability. I've had books on FW that show up fairly high ranked on their best seller listings, but then no sales show up on the royalty reports. And when I ask why, there's no answer.

 

[R. Richard]

Fictionwise still has not paid its royalties for the first quarter, at least not to Club Lighthouse Publishing. Terrie and I have both sent in complaints with no response.

To add insult to injury, between this morning and this afternoon almost a third of our sales for the second quarter vanished from their royalty report!

Anyone else having poblems with them?

You might try talking to Barnes & Noble. If Fictionwise isn't properly listing all of their sales, B&N should be very interested, since B&N now owns Fictionwise.

This isa matter of concern to me, since I publish with CLP and Fictionwise.

 

[WRJames]

You might try talking to Barnes & Noble. If Fictionwise isn't properly listing all of their sales, B&N should be very interested, since B&N now owns Fictionwise.

This isa matter of concern to me, since I publish with CLP and Fictionwise.

Yep -- you should be VERY concerned. There are a lot of Duke of Averon sales that just vanished between this morning and this afternoon.

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Fictionwise still has not paid its royalties for the first quarter, at least not to Club Lighthouse Publishing. Terrie and I have both sent in complaints with no response.

To add insult to injury, between this morning and this afternoon almost a third of our sales for the second quarter vanished from their royalty report!

Anyone else having poblems with them?

Huh? What would I do if I was the chosen one?

I am the chosen one.

Actually, if I were the chosen one, I wouldn't be hanging around a porn site, er, I mean, an erotic literature site. I'd be living life large.

"Who's that guy that bought that big mansion and drives those flashy cars?"

"Oh, that's the chosen one."

See what I mean.

Besides, how do you know you are the chosen one? Do you hear voices? Did the big guy tell you that you are the chosen one? Or have you been sipping the cooking sherry?

 

[KarennaC]

Fictionwise seems to have that problem fairly often. I'm published with Excessica, and I've seen comments there about Fictionwise being very late with quarterly payments.

Which reminds me, I should have a quarterly payment coming from the first quarter, if Fictionwise ever gets off their butts and if I sold enough copies through them. Wow. That's pretty cool. My book has gone from being #8 on Excessica's page on Fictionwise, to being #161, and most of the range in between, so I've definitely sold something there.

Sorry, I have shiny object syndrome. Royalties are shiny, especially when they're mine. Anyway, I think a lot of people are hoping that now that B&N owns Fictionwise, they'll shape up their accounting practices and get payments sent out in a reasonable amount of time. It doesn't seem to have happened yet. Maybe someday.

 

[WRJames]

Huh? What would I do if I was the chosen one?

I am the chosen one.

Actually, if I were the chosen one, I wouldn't be hanging around a porn site, er, I mean, an erotic literature site. I'd be living life large.

"Who's that guy that bought that big mansion and drives those flashy cars?"

"Oh, that's the chosen one."

See what I mean.

Besides, how do you know you are the chosen one? Do you hear voices? Did the big guy tell you that you are the chosen one? Or have you been sipping the cooking sherry?

Well, plunk down few bucks and buy the book and find out.

 

[R. Richard]

I sent an e-mail to Fictionwise last night. I outlined the problem from an 'as told to me' perspective. I have an automatic reply and I'm waiting for Herman Q. Asskisser to hopefully tell me,"It was all just a misunderstanding." We'll see.

 

[WRJames]

Well, we finally got paid for the first quarter. After getting a bullshit "check is in the mail" note we finally got paid by via PayPal, fifteen days late/

No fix for the royalties report though.

 

[sr71plt]

The publishing industry is famous for being in arears on royalty accounting and payment. It happens with the most staid of the publishers.

 

[slyc_willie]

The publishing industry is famous for being in arears on royalty accounting and payment. It happens with the most staid of the publishers.

And Fictionwise has never paid on time.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Fictionwise has never (and I mean NEVER, in a year's time) paid on time. We haven't received our Q1 check either. And yes, 1/3 of our royalties disappeared yesterday as well. Clearly a computer glitch. (It better be...) It's funny, I don't think the big houses pay much attention or care. They have enough in their bankroll to pay without FW ponying up on time.

But FW unresponsiveness is stunning to me. I've had them take a MONTH to fix a formatting issue with a book. I've had support tickets still gone unanswered... three months later. And they never did send us a 1099 at the end of the year. Not to mention the problem I've had with censorship with them.

I also think the big houses don't talk to each other. I tried, once, putting a query out there asking what others' experiences of FW was, but people seemed soooo enamored of their royalty payments they didn't want to open their mouths.

I'd suggest telling Piers Anthony (who publishes with excessica) because he runs "Internet Publishing" and it's one of the few places online that publicly strives to keep these folks honest.

 

[WRJames]

Fictionwise has never (and I mean NEVER, in a year's time) paid on time. We haven't received our Q1 check either. And yes, 1/3 of our royalties disappeared yesterday as well. Clearly a computer glitch. (It better be...) It's funny, I don't think the big houses pay much attention or care. They have enough in their bankroll to pay without FW ponying up on time.

But FW unresponsiveness is stunning to me. I've had them take a MONTH to fix a formatting issue with a book. I've had support tickets still gone unanswered... three months later. And they never did send us a 1099 at the end of the year. Not to mention the problem I've had with censorship with them.

I also think the big houses don't talk to each other. I tried, once, putting a query out there asking what others' experiences of FW was, but people seemed soooo enamored of their royalty payments they didn't want to open their mouths.

I'd suggest telling Piers Anthony (who publishes with excessica) because he runs "Internet Publishing" and it's one of the few places online that publicly strives to keep these folks honest.

Well, the problem is, people buy at FW and practically nowhere else. I'm not sure what the great attraction.

And, after I sent them a few nasty grams, one of my books suddenly has two bad ratings? This is one that got very good votes and reviews for the chapters posted here on Lit. Coincidence -- or revenge?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Well, the problem is, people buy at FW and practically nowhere else. I'm not sure what the great attraction.

And, after I sent them a few nasty grams, one of my books suddenly has two bad ratings? This is one that got very good votes and reviews for the chapters posted here on Lit. Coincidence -- or revenge?

Yes, it's a case of "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." However, I've noticed our sales falling off at FW in the past few months, and ARE is actually outselling them now, for us. I think (I hope) readers are wising up and going elsewhere. A few months ago, things were all aflutter on Twitter about FW - not just publishers but readers, who had complaints about their customer service. There were readers who had corrupt formats that they wouldn't fix, double payments they wouldn't refund, etc.

The truth is, FW isn't really feeding us well anymore.

As for the reviews... you know, with any other company, I'd say no way. With FW? I wouldn't put anything past them.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The effects of TWITTER is something that promises to be a great thread.

 

[sr71plt]

Fictionwise has never (and I mean NEVER, in a year's time) paid on time. We haven't received our Q1 check either. And yes, 1/3 of our royalties disappeared yesterday as well. Clearly a computer glitch. (It better be...) It's funny, I don't think the big houses pay much attention or care. They have enough in their bankroll to pay without FW ponying up on time.

But FW unresponsiveness is stunning to me. I've had them take a MONTH to fix a formatting issue with a book. I've had support tickets still gone unanswered... three months later. And they never did send us a 1099 at the end of the year. Not to mention the problem I've had with censorship with them.

I also think the big houses don't talk to each other. I tried, once, putting a query out there asking what others' experiences of FW was, but people seemed soooo enamored of their royalty payments they didn't want to open their mouths.

I'd suggest telling Piers Anthony (who publishes with excessica) because he runs "Internet Publishing" and it's one of the few places online that publicly strives to keep these folks honest.

As I noted up the line, this is the norm for publishing. The big houses do it as well, so they don't expect anything different from a minisule distributor like Fictionwise.

The most disorganized and least-supported element of publishing is the accounting department--for a reason. If records get lost in the shuffle, it involves money they don't have to shell out unless the author/staffer can catch up with records that the publisher is keeping (or not).

I copyedit for mainstream publishers. The higher they are regarded in the industry, the longer it takes them to pay their production bills. It took me nearly two years to track down a $5,000 payment for editing the best-seller Imperial Hubris.

Don't expect B&N to make this any better by taking over Fictionwise. Will probably make it worse--on purpose.

 

[sr71plt]

However, I've noticed our sales falling off at FW in the past few months,

Evidence of the B&N takeover, I would say (and noted in my last posting). It likely not sales that are dropping off--but recording of sales.

On my mainstream books, I have readers saying they bought their copy from the B&N Web site. I have never had a sale reported through my publisher from the B&N Web site. I think this is the major dirty little secret of the publishing industry.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

As I noted up the line, this is the norm for publishing. The big houses do it as well, so they don't expect anything different from a minisule distributor like Fictionwise.

The most disorganized and least-supported element of publishing is the accounting department--for a reason. If records get lost in the shuffle, it involves money they don't have to shell out unless the author/staffer can catch up with records that the publisher is keeping (or not).

I copyedit for mainstream publishers. The higher they are regarded in the industry, the longer it takes them to pay their production bills. It took me nearly two years to track down a $5,000 payment for editing the best-seller Imperial Hubris.

Don't expect B&N to make this any better by taking over Fictionwise. Will probably make it worse--on purpose.

But it's interesting to me that every other distributor pays us on time or before. Not one other distributor has ever been late with a payment. Just Fictionwise. And that was before the takeover. Now, you're right, they're worse.

And it wouldn't surprise me in the least that our profits are being swallowed by the new B&N machine. Sales are literally disappearing.

 

[sr71plt]

But it's interesting to me that every other distributor pays us on time or before. Not one other distributor has ever been late with a payment. Just Fictionwise. And that was before the takeover. Now, you're right, they're worse.

And it wouldn't surprise me in the least that our profits are being swallowed by the new B&N machine. Sales are literally disappearing.

There are two issues. Truthful accounting and timeliness of payment.

The ones that pay you on time most likely ones just not savvy enough in publishing to know how the industry plays that game.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

The ones that pay you on time most likely ones just not savvy enough in publishing to know how the industry plays that game.

Obviously.

They're clearly not big and hungry enough yet, I guess. *sigh*

The timeliness issue is just annoying. But the truthful accounting? That's heinous, as far as I'm concerned. Authors always get the worst of it. The one who gives the most - the writer, the actor, whoever - ends up getting the least back. Reminds me of the slum dog millionaire kids getting sent back to their slums. And how much did the studio make on them? It's sick and twisted.

 

[WRJames]

Evidence of the B&N takeover, I would say (and noted in my last posting). It likely not sales that are dropping off--but recording of sales.

On my mainstream books, I have readers saying they bought their copy from the B&N Web site. I have never had a sale reported through my publisher from the B&N Web site. I think this is the major dirty little secret of the publishing industry.

Well, I keep track of my books in the CLHP rankings on FW. And I've had books jump into the top ten, and there's never any record of a sale on the royalty report.

At Club Lighthouse Publishing, we only sell via PayPal. When the PayPal order is processed, it comes back to an ASP which puts out a database record with the information from PayPal -- the book number, who bought it, and the actual amount that was paid for it. The latter is important because sometimes the books have different prices over time.

FW can't do this with their royalty report -- they only report a list price and number of books sold, and then try to multuply the two to get the total sales. That won't work if the book has fluctuated in price -- which they are doing all the time now with special sales. So if their isn't more than that to their accounting system they have no way of knowing what happened.

It could be that they have a book by book audit trail somewhere and they just have a lousy report to present it.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Well, I keep track of my books in the CLHP rankings on FW. And I've had books jump into the top ten, and there's never any record of a sale on the royalty report.

At Club Lighthouse Publishing, we only sell via PayPal. When the PayPal order is processed, it comes back to an ASP which puts out a database record with the information from PayPal -- the book number, who bought it, and the actual amount that was paid for it. The latter is important because sometimes the books have different prices over time.

FW can't do this with their royalty report -- they only report a list price and number of books sold, and then try to multuply the two to get the total sales. That won't work if the book has fluctuated in price -- which they are doing all the time now with special sales. So if their isn't more than that to their accounting system they have no way of knowing what happened.

It could be that they have a book by book audit trail somewhere and they just have a lousy report to present it.

I'm sure you have one of your own, but according to the FW contract:

"FICTIONWISE shall make available to PUBLISHER printable royalty statements to be computed as of March 31, June 30, September 30, and December 31 of each year of this Primary Agreement within forty-five (45) days following such respective dates along with any payments indicated to be due thereby. If the royalty payment amount is under $25, FICTIONWISE will hold the payment until the payment amount is over $25 and the next quarterly payment period occurs.

PUBLISHER shall have the rights to examine or cause his/her duly appointed representatives to examine the accounts of FICTIONWISE at any time after written demand by PUBLISHER. In the event discrepancies between royalty statements and FICTIONWISE's accounts shall total more than one dollar ($1.00) in PUBLISHER's favor under this and any other Agreement between PUBLISHER and FICTIONWISE, FICTIONWISE shall tender such monies due to PUBLISHER within ten (10) days."

 

[sr71plt]

Well, I keep track of my books in the CLHP rankings on FW. And I've had books jump into the top ten, and there's never any record of a sale on the royalty report.

Fictionwise (and the rest of them) really are small operations. My books hit the best-selling ranks on these distribution sites as well. The way they construct those rankings, though, three sales on a given day can launch you up there for a few days. It's all done with smoke and mirrors. Nice to see; I wouldn't let it it fool me, though.

As a copyeditor, I'll go after every penny my records say are owed to me. When I studied editing in the university, I was told to count on writing off a quarter of my billing because of the habits of the industry (and just not to go into the business if I couldn't stomach this). In twelve years editing in the mainstream, though, I've gone after it all and made 100 percent of what I billed (eventually).

As an author, though, I go the "avoid the elevated bloodpressure" route. For my mainstream books, I consider whatever advance I can get as the total to be expected from that book, and just consider whatever royalties get reported and paid as my travel money gravy (I just got back from Australia and New Zealand--and soon have to go back to Cyprus for a visit, because my royalties on books there are paid only in Cypriot pounds--luckily it "almost" supports a small villa there.)

In my erotica writing, I either take compensation in "consideration amenities" off the top or just write any profit off. And then I don't let it eat at me.

 

[R. Richard]

But FW unresponsiveness is stunning to me. I've had them take a MONTH to fix a formatting issue with a book. I've had support tickets still gone unanswered... three months later. And they never did send us a 1099 at the end of the year. Not to mention the problem I've had with censorship with them.

I currently have a ticket on my disappearing sales that's five days outstanding.