Hello to all of you beautiful nerds and welcome back from traveling the vast nerd universe! I am back from a break. Not sure if you have been following us on Twitter but I announced I would be on a break because my mom passed away. I was devastated since I just celebrated my second book in the Backwards Fairy Tale series being released and this takes place. I am back now but may be on a break due to school. Anyways, onto the post!
New Publishing Scams! Meet EC Publishing and Quippers Prints!
So, yes, I had two companies come after me recently after my release of Rose Thorns of Love: Another Backwards Fairy Tale was released last month on Amazon. I was surprised since it was fresh to market and now have companies coming after it as well but not happy about it. Apparently, I am the only one at Light Switch that has scamming companies coming after them but I am blocking them.
EC Publishing
I guess I have to start talking about these two since it feels as though they came out of nowhere even though they told me they tried contacting me for two weeks. Last time I checked, I didn’t get any calls from Ocala. Oh yeah, did I mention they are in Florida? This publisher called me while I was working, like the past two, and tried to offer me a spot in London at their book fair.. They were pretty vague about the offer and would send me the paperwork to look at. I did ask a smart question and that was about payment. They told me I don’t have to pay much but look at the paperwork. I gave them my email after saying I would think about it. I didn’t receive it though because I think they thought I said, “Rider” not “writer” since I was giving them my author email. I was glad I didn’t get it because while I was eating lunch I was looking into their stuff and their shady business. Apparently someone complained that they didn’t get their book published after paying $899 which to me is $600 more than what I paid to get my book published for both paperback and EBook editions through my publisher. Apparently, people were cold called about the book fair stuff and someone sent Writer Beware the information about the book fair stuff and the price from what I saw on Writer Beware post would be around $499 even with promotion. I wouldn’t pay for a small shelf space with my hard earned salary! No way! I’d rather go into my local Staples and just have business cards made. I did get another call from them the next day and turned them down. What I didn’t expect was overdramatics! Yes, they were sounding like they were being hurt for not saying yes to their offer. I told them I didn’t want to pay for the prices which by the way were not posted but did see online on blog posts. I did lose my cool and cussed at them and they cussed back at me and I thought that was the end of it. I did email them though telling my stance which I researched into them about people being ripped off by them. They did try to call me again from another number but I declined because I didn’t want to hear what they had to say since they were not getting the idea that they ripped people off.
I did go to their website and Facebook to see if they post their pricing and they don’t. I don’t get how if they are giving people services then why not just showing the fees if you want to work with people? I guess they are scared that people would just leave? They are already shady as is! I did see their Facebook posts and it is basically them at the different book fairs with their authors. I didn’t trust the posts because of how I felt about being scammed if I went through with this. Plus, this is my baby after all and I find it odd that they didn’t see Love Found in Cinders which is the book before it. If I am going to market my series, I will market it as a whole and do it cheaper than what they want as well, which brings me to the next one.
Quipper Prints
This just happened today when I was at work again and got this call from Chicago. I wished I didn’t pick it up and they were calling about Rose Thorns of Love as well. They explained themselves but I didn’t say anything knowing they were also a scam. I did go to their website and they only gave what kind of services minus the prices like with EC Publishing. They had tiers for publishing the book and said that they are promoted on the New York Times Book Exchange and other places. I understand it would be great to be on that list but I doubt they don’t know this publisher the slightest. They don’t even have a BBB page and I don’t see any person post on their Facebook either. It’s like they’re unknown. I did contact Writer Beware about them since they are nowhere in the list. I have a feeling they are completely new to the so-called publishing game. I was glad to hang up on them.
What Next?
I am not sure! I am currently writing A Third Backwards Fairy Tale which is based on Sleeping Beauty and I am hoping that won’t be targeted whenever I send it off for publishing. I am keeping my guard up and still working on the Audible version of Love Found in Cinders and will soon do the same with Rose Thorns as well. I feel like these scammers should stop and just leave people alone! I am really getting tired of it, honestly! I work five days a week and use my money for the usual bills, food, transportation for work and doctors appointments, even sometimes leisure if I wanted to but none to give to a scamming company that would just throw my butt out and steal my stuff. If I want to market, I would do it myself, that is what my publisher says and any Self-Publisher advice columns say. Like I said above, getting marketing materials doesn’t cost that much. I’ve seen tables you can buy for events for less than $100 and you can print fliers easily from your own printer or go to FedEx and pay $23 for around 200 fliers. I remembered when I had pamphlets printed for Nerdy Chic Universe that cost us around $50 at FedEx as well! Again, you can just get things made way less than what EC Publishing would charge. I would say just do it yourself if you are going to market a book or anything else. It would save you the tears from re-building your brand if it goes bad with a scam.I am saying at the end of this that I am not falling for their bullshit! Yes, I know pardon my French but don’t care at this point.
In case if you want to check out my books:
Nerdy Shique Universe 
Robert Wunderlich
/ May 13, 2023I need a publisher that is honest and will treat me right. Please help me.
moonleopard85
/ May 13, 2023My advice is to do your research on publishers. Best part of my advice is also look into their background as in if they have a Better Business Bureau page, has anyone posted anywhere else about them like I had with Stratton Press, Writers Branding, EC Publishing, Quipper Prints, also check out Writer Beware for the full list of scamming publishers. I hope that helps!