An Open Letter to Cobblestone Press

Late Friday night as I wrote the previous blog post I was in a mood to share my good news with my fans and friends. While going through my post about where my two Cobblestone Press books can now be found after three and four months of being available, I made an on the record comment.

My little blog has some traffic but not much. I've made comments before when I was frustrated. I didn't think that my words would be the start of something. I never expected that post would go to a small degree viral. I never expected others to come forward. I knew having spoken through twitter and facebook with other authors that my frustrations were generally universal. I had inside information that told me things weren't going well with the company. I just didn't know it was a festering sore.

I stand by that last post.

My complaints are minor compared to others. I have been paid at least. If by paid you count $11 for the first month 51 was available $28 for the month Cold was available combined with 51's sales and $68 this past month for both books as anything to write home about. I was at least paid.

My complaints stem from the cock up editing of In From the Cold and the withholding of the cover art which was available before edits were finished. My issue with the cover of 51 is minor and I now know that the email I sent was never passed on to the artist. Case closed on that score. Wow, amazing what one little email will do.

So I said what everyone was thinking. The overwhelming common complaint is our questions big and small going unanswered for months. This is disrespect on a grand scale. Answering email queries would have most likely saved the owners of Cobblestone Press this last resort.

In April tornadoes did pass through the state of Alabama. On April 27th to be exact. The middle section of the state was torn apart. It was devestating. I lost a friend in the disaster. I can not speak for Cobblestone Press's difficulty during this time. Their business address is Clinton, Mississippi which is in the center of that state near Jackson. To my knowledge that area was not affected by the tornadoes. I know nothing else about the whereabouts of Cobblestone Press. They could very well have been affected by the tornadoes as they claim on Piers Anthony's website, I do not know. I can say that my emails dating back to mid-March were not returned, not one from either Deanna Lee or Sable Grey. Emails to Leanne who's last name I can't remember were returned. She knew nothing and forwarded emails on. These emails pertained to the cover art of In from the Cold, why the numerical title change of 51, an issue regarding another book released in February from another publisher with the same title as Cold and a very similar plot. Simple questions. Nothing major. Then 51 was released with out my being told it was on the schedule and my questions about the title became moot.

On April 28th the day before In From the Cold was scheduled for release Dan Skinner contacted me through my blog about my cover. He was surprised to find out I'd not been forwarded the art as he'd sent it in a month prior. I had sent off yet another unanswered email that very afternoon. Friday morning April 29th Deanna Lee emailed me the entire cover art package, she apologized for it being late and said that there was an error with the art that needed fixing. They'd changed the banner from purple to black. This was two days after the tornadoes BTW. It would be another two weeks before I was sent my copies of the book. Again another round of unanswered emails.

I waited for the books to appear on Amazon. 51 was listed on Goodreads. I listed Cold on Goodreads myself two weeks after it's release. I checked Barnes and Noble, and All Romance ebooks. Nope my books weren't there. No Cobblestone Press books from March until just recently were anywhere. I checked.

I have not bothered writing Cobblestone Press about this. I know the answer. No response.

I turned down another contract for Cold because of the wonderful editing process with 51. This was in January. In January I had no reason to question anything. Recent books appeared on Amazon and All Romance. My emails were returned. Cobblestone is not a big press. I knew that. I'm published with Ellora's Cave under a different pen name. I was not looking for a big impersonal publisher. I accepted both contracts based on the information available to me in December. Cobblestone Press listed their books with Amazon and All Romance. Cobblestone Press books had gorgeous covers. They were good with their authors. And they paid on time. I'm not new to this business I made a decision based on information available at the time.

Something went wrong in March. I don't know what. I can't even begin to speculate and really I'm not all that interested, except Cobblestone Press chose to stop working with me. My issues are very minor issues. And could have been easily answered.

Cobblestone Press's coming soon page ceased to exist in mid-June. Their coming soon page states to check back Monday for the new and improved page. Seven Mondays have gone by. On June 6th Cobblestone Press threw themselves a party on their After Dark Forum. I recieved email reminders of the event as late as June 5th in the evening. Cobblestone Press forgot to show up for their birthday event. The After Dark forum has not been updated since April.

On their main forum page the Amazon listings thread hasn't been updated since February. The Fictionwise and Barnes and Noble are one thread and was updated in mid-July as well as the All Romance page. My books are listed as available from Barnes and Noble but a search has not turned up either book. Both books are listed as available with Fictionwise but only 51 shows when I searched. I am happy to say that both books are available at All Romance and I am even happier to say that Cold is the number five best seller in the Mystery/Suspense category. It's the number 2 book in top rated same category. It ranks fairly high in the gay and erotica categories as well. So my books are selling. And they are earning five stars.

I harbor no ill will toward Cobblestone Press. But I will not be ignored. I gave you two books because I thought at the time you were the best place for them. I was wrong. You did not play fair, you ignored, you blamed and you procrastinated. The books should have been listed with other markets as soon as possible after release to take full advantage. I had to move on. I have two new books coming out soon, I gave both of those books my fullest attention in March, April, May, and June. But no one could find them. Listing with Amazon is crucial as most ereaders are Kindles.

Cobblestone Press, to use a sports term, dropped the ball. And now their authors are calling foul. As I said, my issues are minor. I have been paid. Others are on record as not being paid.

So Cobblestone Press, now is the time to do the right thing. I have no idea what that right thing is, that's for you to decide. Admit you're having problems. Come clean. Take the high road. Your authors deserve that much at least.

Sincerely,

Mercy Celeste