10/15/11 Original Post
10/23/11 Updated information; identified at end
10/26/11 More Updates, ooooh! Interesting stuff! At the end!
Also! There’s a silent auction of my remaining DUN LADY’S JESS copies, proceeds to go to horse rescue!
Dun Lady’s Jess
When hikers Dayna and Eric find a young woman naked, terrified, and speechless, they’re sure she’s the victim of foul play. But the truth is much more shocking: she isn’t human at all. She’s Dun Lady’s Jess, a horse transformed into this new shape by the spell that brought her and her rider, to whom she is utterly devoted, into this world. Possessed now of human intelligence but still a horse deep inside, Jess desperately searches this world for her master and rider, using her fiery equine spirit to take on human idiosyncracies–and human threats.
10/15/11 Dun Lady’s Jess is my heart book—my first book. A fantasy, it was first published by Baen in 1994, and in 1995 it won the prestigious Stephen Tall/Compton Crook Award for Best First SF/F/H of the year. It grew two sequels, and it stayed in print for a good long run—but eventually, some years later, it fell off the shelves and the rights reverted to me. Halfway through the next decade, I was invited by a delightful editor to reprint the book through the new Star Ink imprint of the Canadian publisher Fitzhenry & Whiteside. We had a wonderful time with the new edition, giving painstaking attention to the details large and small. It became stalled in production, however, and by the time it was released, the editor had chosen to part ways with the publisher. Eventually the book was released under Fitzhenry & Whiteside’s Red Deer Press line. The reversion clause for Dun Lady’s Jess reads:
“16.(a) If the Publisher fails to keep the Work in print *through regular trade channels* and for sale and written demand from the Author declines or neglects to reprint it within six (6) months thereafter and to offer it for sale, or after two (2) years from the date of the first publication the Publisher wishes to discontinue publication of the Work and gives three (3) months’ notice to this effect to the Author in writing.”
The part between asterisks? My agent and I added that to the boilerplate, because the clause as it stood was far too open-ended. The new phrase was approved and initialed by both myself and Richard Dionne, for Fitzhenry & Whiteside. (The part right after the asterisks? Yes, it seems to be missing a word—probably “upon.” But that’s part of the boilerplate.) The book was published in November 2007, although the U.S. distribution didn’t take place until April 2008. By spring of 2010, it was evident, through royalty reports, that the book wasn’t being placed on the shelves anywhere (that is, “regular trade channels”). For a couple of years now, it’s sold only a handful of copies per year, and has slowly slid off availability via online sources. (see the screenshot at the bottom of the page) But when we asked for reversion of rights, the response shocked us: if I would buy the considerable copies the publisher has sitting in their warehouse, they would revert the book. I have to tell you…it felt like coercion. We responded that this wasn’t possible, and reminded them that they naturally had the ability to sell their remaining stock should the rights to the book be reverted. In other words, for them, nothing would change. But they didn’t respond to that email,nor to the one after that, or the one after that, or to the phone call by the book’s original editor with that line, or—after we’d let the situation sit for a year—to the query after that.
Dun Lady's Jess: The warehouse listing. Unlike books that are available through regular trade channels, this title is stocked only in the Fitzhenry & Whiteside warehouse
We sent screenshots of the book’s lack of availability and its failure to appear in any distributor warehouse. It’s in the publisher warehouse alone—which does not equal being available through regular trade channels. We also sent a PDF of the relevant contract page with the initialed changes to their boilerplate. This material went out return receipt—and finally, we received a promise to review the situation and get back to us in a week.
This did not happen.
After another nudge—which included the reminder that the publisher could continue to sell warehoused copies in their usual fashion, as well as a reminder of the boilerplate changes–we were finally told: “This book is in stock, on sale on our website, it continues to sell albeit in lesser quantities. [my note: yes, a handful of copies a year] We have some 1,600 in stock with no reason to revert rights. ”
How about because it’s a contractual obligation?
Finally, I went to SFWA GriefCom. You may not have heard much about this committee; when GriefCom mediates a dispute, the parties involved maintain a strict nondisclosure; no one’s dirty laundry is aired. And because they see a high level of success, that means you see very little dirty laundry and very little about GriefCom.
In this case, the request from GriefCom to Fitzhenry & Whiteside was simple: Revert the book per the contract obligations, or provide proof that the book is available via regular trade channels.
It took a week of trying for GriefCom to connect with Mr. Dionne, at which point we were given a promise that Red Deer would provide proof of distribution within a week.
This did not happen.
After three weeks of silence and unreturned phone calls, GriefCom sent a different kind of request, giving Red Deer forty-eight hours to either revert the book or provide proof that it was being sold via regular trade channels, and asserting that after that, I would be forced to take additional steps.
Early the next day, I heard from the GriefCom chair that he had received a phone call, and that the unidentified caller took him to task in no uncertain terms–claiming harassment, declaring there would be no reversion on the title, and warning that she would “report” us to [prominent Canadian SF writer #1] and [prominent Canadian SF writer #2]—all before hanging up on him.
We took this as an indication that the publisher no longer wishes to interact with GriefCom.
Finally—knowing that truly, no one wants a big dramafest, I emailed Richard Dionne and made the same request: Please send either the reversion or the proof that Dun Lady’s Jess is being sold via regular trade channels, and please do so within the next three business days.
This did not happen.
I don’t have a lot of options left, but I do have some. For one thing, I have this: I can break the silence that protects Fitzhenry & Whiteside from the consequences of their actions—a silence I’ve kept for a year and a half. And I can do it to warn everyone possible, via the big wide Internets: This is my documented experience with this publisher. We have a contract clause that was approved and initialed, but is not being honored. A critical contract clause—one that protects my interests in my book per the agreed-upon terms. A contract clause that is of utmost importance these days, when publishers and writers are scrambling to negotiate shifting terms and a shifting industry.
A contract clause no writer should take lightly.
Meanwhile, I still want my book back. I still want Fitzhenry & Whiteside to honor the contract they signed. Contracts are not a thing of convenience, to be ignored when a publisher pleases. “Make me,” isn’t in a professional lexicon…or shouldn’t be. If you feel the same, I hope you’ll pass this warning along.
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10/23/11 Edited to Add Tidbits, with a point of dark irony:
After F&W’s threat to report me to specific Canadian writers (no, I’m not going to name them. One honorable person doesn’t deserve it; I find the other irrelevant to the situation), on the same day Writer Beware guested my blog warning, the latter author did indeed mount a campaign to discredit my efforts; this continues as of this writing. Personally, I’m not a big believer of coincidences.
As of 10/22, this author is reaching out directly to those who have spread the word on Twitter. I’m sorry for that. But backing off on my hope that people will continue to share this situation with writers, agents, and readers would be the wrong choice, so I’m not doing it, and I hope that if you believe writers should have warning about publishers who have behaved this way, you’ll share, too.
Meanwhile, a kind reader gave me a heads-up that I’m not listed on the F&W Red Deer site with their other authors, in spite of the publisher determination to keep the book. One might instantly suspect this is due to my decision to break silence…unless you happen to check the wayback machine, and determine that they never listed me as an author–not even when the book first came out. There’s no conclusion here…just some dark irony.
And finally, on Saturday (Oct. 22), additional dark irony: The most recent royalty statement for this book arrived. In the first six months of the year, Fitzhenry & Whiteside has sold two copies of Dun Lady’s Jess.
Two.
Don’t ask me why F&W wants to keep the rights to this book. It clearly wasn’t a good match for their publishing program–a fact I regret, I imagine they regret, and I suspect every reader facing collector’s prices of the first (and ironically more available) edition regrets. Why not remainder the title, clear out their warehouse space, revert the book, honor the contract, and be quit of the book? Or simply revert the book, continue to sell the title exactly as they’re currently doing, honor the contract, and be quit of me?
Many people have advised me to get physical evidence of the warehoused books’ existence. Hmm.
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10/26/11: Interesting tidbits continue to trickle in.
The most critical of these is this, in a quoted 10/24/11 comment (with permission) from Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware. You can see it there, too. Also, I added the titles/details to my timeline.
Victoria:
Over on his blog, Rob Sawyer posed a challenge: put things in context by comparing Doranna’s book to other books published by Red Deer Press.
So I did.
- Amazon shows 10 books pubbed by Red Deer in 2007. Of those, eight are listed by Amazon as in stock and available in at least one edition. Only two are out of stock or out of print: a nonfiction hardcover that’s out of print, and Doranna’s book, which is out of stock. Doranna’s is also the only 2007-pubbed paperback that’s not currently in stock and available.
- Amazon shows 14 SF/fantasy books pubbed by Red Deer between 2002 and 2010. Of these, 13 are in stock and available in at least one edition. Doranna’s is the only one that’s out of stock in all editions.
Results from Barnes & Noble aren’t quite identical, but they are very similar.
Obviously, there are many reasons why books go out of stock. But this does demonstrate that Red Deer has no trouble getting its books into US distribution.
What does this mean for me?
It means that Amazon.com is, in fact, a regular distribution channel for Fitzhenry & Whiteside; ditto Barnes & Noble. The publisher has no trouble maintaining stock in these venues when it chooses to.
It is perhaps a good time to put this information back in context:
DUN LADY’S JESS was to be the first book in a new line under a Canadian author/editor. However, my editor reconsidered that publisher relationship while JESS was in production, and the book was folded into the Red Deer imprint.
The book never received the promised bookshelf distribution (yes, I have those emails somewhere, even three email programs later)–promises which heavily influenced my willingness to sign the contract. It didn’t receive post-publication support; I was never even listed on the Red Deer web site as an author (yes, I have screenshots). You can find the book on their web site, but only with persistence–a “search” returns a broken link.
It’s clear to me that this orphaned book fell through all kinds of cracks. Well, okay. It happens. That doesn’t mean the contract isn’t just as valid as it was the day I signed it–as interpreted in context of the time frame in which I signed it. And under the contract, it’s time for the book to revert. Asking for reversion–insisting on it, under the contract terms and circumstances–is no justification for bad publisher behavior, or for the publisher to threaten me with another author who did in fact then make an effort to discredit me.
Free DUN LADY’S JESS, Fitzhenry & Whiteside. At this point, it’s the least you can do.
The muse rules.
The Sentinels
The fun thing is how well it often works out. If you read Storm of Reckoning, you’ll reach a point shortly before the end where…well, where things happen. Go on, read it. You’ll know where I mean. Well, confession: I didn’t know that was coming until about two pages before I reached it. It was all, “Ahhhh! What’s Garrie gonna do?! How’s Trevarr going to get out of this one?!” Complete with melodramatic punctuation.
Demon Touch
Nook
