I would like to speak out on behalf of all of the unpaid and unanswered authors of Torquere Press LLC. You may say I am no longer a Torquere author, but as long as you owe me and my wife the nearly 4K combined you owe us, I am an unsatisfied author of your company.
Therefore, I take it on myself to speak for all the authors who have not been paid, some since 3rd qtr 2015, most since June 2016. I speak out for the author you still owe $18600.00 not including the 10K you paid for a bounced check, which also has not been received. I speak out for the author you owe $35.00 for an anthology story. I'm calling you out for all the authors who have requested payment, rights reversions, or just a simple update and have remained unanswered.
I'm also writing on behalf of your staff, some of whom I hired when I was the owner of Torquere Press Inc, and therefore I feel responsible for. Those staff who worked for you for free for too long while you made promises you didn't keep, then threw them under the bus by telling the authors you paid the staff rather than author royalties. Which is not true.
So, here's my challenge to you both.
Own up to your shit. Give the authors a reversion letter. Even if you do it the cowardly way like Ellora's Cave and put it up publicly for all the authors to grab. Then close the business. Stop stealing. Stop sitting on your butts and making income off the authors you refuse to answer. Clean out your emails and give people their books back. The money is gone. We get it. While it would be a decent thing to do to pay us, you're not going to. But this is people's lives. It's their copyright, their property.
Give it back. Answer for yourself, and for once, do the right thing.
Take down the websites and the distributor accounts and stop acting like you can just walk away. You can't, and doing the right thing now might stop some of the legal actions said authors and staff are already in the act of starting.
Sincerely,
Julia Talbot
6 comments:
Thanks for writing this Julia. They owe me money, and my partner D.J. Manly who could have used her royalties in her battle with breast cancer.
It's funny that Kristi never receives my emails regarding money or requests for statements or a reversion of rights. Those emails disappear. She never responds to anything...
But when she wants to publish a book I told the editor we would not be publishing, Kristi can find a way to reach me.
I've been through this before with Silver Publishing and Ellora's Cave.
I am tired of being screwed by these publishers. I am tired of the lies, of being ignored. I trusted Kristi and Joanna after personally meeting them in Austin last year.
Now I know I was played like a cheap fiddle.
They claimed they were using our money for PR. What PR?
This has got to stop. They need to grow up and stop pocketing money that isn't theirs.
Yep. No response. Took forever to take my short story down when rights were reverted. It is a mess. I'm so glad she only owes me a few dollars at the most-but it's mine. I trusted them and got taken. I hope other authors read this and don't submit. They need to be taken off of e-tailers and I hope legal action is taken. This is unacceptable.
I've read this. I'm listening. I'm still in shock over all of this. Yes, there were warning signs, but I really liked Kristi and Joanna. I trusted them. It seems I wasn't the only one. A.J., you met them in person? Also, Julia, this is your family and former company we're talking about. I can only imagine the history you have with them. I'm so sorry this is happening. ;_;
Regret aside, you're right, Julia. We need our rights back. TQ needs to return them to us.
Don't stop writing, Julia. Don't stop writing, anyone. We're trying to get our stories back, but we are the source of all our stories. Keep drawing on that source. Keep writing. We were part of the life force of TQ. Julia, you brought TQ into being. You made it strong. That's something to be proud of, regardless of what's happening to it now. Be proud of that strength. Use and channel it into new stories. Or an entirely new form which you want to shape.
Yes I personally met Kristi and Joanna in Austin, TX last year at a writer's conference. I really felt like connected with them, particularly Joanna. I had three books with them from when Julia and BA owned the company and based on my impressions of Kristi and Joanna I was excited and encouraged to give them more books.
We are all involved with animal rescue and we've exchanged messages and I've Skyped with Joanna...they were very supportive when my writing partner D.J. Manly got cancer and even donated money to her fundraiser...
The I was blown away to learn the truth of what was going on. With me it started in July. I've been down this road before and I knew it was a dead end. I was just hoping I was terribly, terribly wrong. It's crushed me. I feel sorry for the authors they owe huge money to. I've been there with Silver Publishing and it's hard to get over. It just makes want to quit writing sometimes.
My book: How To Survive Your Death was one of the last published on Torquere. It's a best seller on Amazon.ca. Of course I haven't heard from either Kristi or Joanna since the book went to print. I want my money and I want my rights back so I can self publish. I have hired a lawyer so hopefully they respond. Does anyone have a working phone number for these crooks?
877.988.5664 is what's listed on the website
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